Gilardino should have equalised for Fiorentina on 72 minutes. He ran on to a through ball and used his strength to hold off Mellberg, but after going round Buffon he stumbled and prodded it well wide. In fairness, the ball appeared to bounce awkwardly.

Gilardino had another good opportunity in the final stages, holding off Legrottaglie to fire just wide of the near post from seven yards.

The tension rose seven minutes from time when Felipe Melo went in very late on Poulsen for a second bookable offence.

However, Fiorentina did not give up and snatched an equaliser with 70 seconds left on the clock! Gilaridino chested Pazzini's knockdown and flicked it round while leaning on Mellberg to turn the defender and slide a precise right-foot finish into the bottom corner. The former Milan star had not scored in a home Serie A game since April 7, 2007.

The action still wasn't over, as Amauri managed to turn between two defenders and get off a fierce strike that Frey palmed out of the near top corner of the net with one strong hand. Moments later Del Piero tried to curl a free kick directly into the goal practically from the byline and went very close.
Fiorentina: Frey; Zauri, Gamberini, Kroldrup, Vargas; Almiron (Jovetic 54), Felipe Melo, Donadel (Kuzmanovic 78); Santana, Gilardino, Osvaldo (Pazzini 63)

Juventus: Buffon; Grygera, Legrottaglie, Mellberg, Molinaro (De Ceglie 74); Camoranesi (Iaquinta 88), Marchisio, Poulsen, Nedved; Amauri, Del Piero

Ref: Morganti

Sent off: Felipe Melo 83 (F)

Di Natale was tired from international duty and made way for Alexis Sanchez, Udinese's new young Chilean starlet. Nedved blasted another piledriver off target and Iaquinta failed to get enough purchase on an audacious over-the-shoulder volley.

The deadlock was eventually broken on 66 minutes at the end of a sustained period of pressure. Momo Sissoko tried to burst through three defenders just inside the box, but the deflection was pounced upon by Amauri to stroke it home.

Udinese nearly equalised moments later. Inler and Sanchez combined before the ball fell to Quagliarella, who brought a great save out of Buffon with an outstretched leg. Handanovic had his palms stung by a powerful Sissoko blockbuster from over 25 metres.

The game seemed to be under control, but with 120 seconds left on the clock Udinese created a fantastic opportunity. Antonio Floro Flores took advantage of a Mellberg error to go clear on goal and Chiellini had to dive in with Buffon to between them clear the danger amid penalty appeals for a shove on the striker.
Juventus: Buffon; Grygera, Chiellini, Mellberg, De Ceglie; Camoranesi (Del Piero 86), Poulsen, Sissoko, Nedved; Amauri (Trezeguet 86), Iaquinta (Marchionni 79)

Udinese: Handanovic; Ferronetti, Coda, Lukovic; Motta (Isla 71), Inler, D'Agostino, Pasquale; Pepe (Floro Flores 75), Quagliarella, Di Natale (Sanchez 58)

Ref: De Marco

Zenit had a sustained period of pressure as they came out fighting for the second half in Turin. Buffon made his first real save of the night, rushing out and using his body to charge down full-back Radek Sirl as he half-volleyed an Andrei Arshavin ball over the top.

Paolo De Ceglie replaced Cristian Molinaro and, despite soaking up pressure for much of the half, Juventus went closest to a goal. Nedved's free kick found a Poulsen flicked header for a fantastic low Malafeev save.

Del Piero had been the star of the show and gave Juventus the lead with an absolutely stunning strike. He saw the goalkeeper off his line and absolutely smashed a 30-yard free kick under the crossbar to startle Zenit! It was a magnificent goal from the captain.

Danny's side-footed angled drive skimmed the base of the far post after going through a sea of legs, though Dominguez's free kick was comfortably controlled by Buffon.

Chiellini did very well to hold his ground and not fall for Arshavin's tricky footwork inside the box.

Amauri replaced Trezeguet late on and Sissoko tested Malafeev from distance. In stoppages, Amauri rolled across for Del Piero, who came sliding in just a moment too late to make contact.
Juventus: Buffon; Grygera, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Molinaro (De Ceglie 56); Camoranesi (Salihamidzic 31), Sissoko, Poulsen, Nedved; Del Piero, Trezeguet (Amauri 87)

Zenit: Malafeev; Sirl, Krizanac, Puygrenier, Anyukov; Denisov, Tymoshchuk, Zyryanov (Dominguez 79); Arshavin, Danny; Pogrebnyak

Ref: De Bleeckere (Bel)

However, the Bianconeri had the best early chance on 19 minutes when Del Piero skipped past Salvatore Accardi on a Momo Sissoko pass and his angled drive thumped the base of the far upright.

A left-footed Mirko Pieri cross-shot flew inches past the head of Stefano Lucchini at the back post. Samp were aggressive and Marius Stankevicius' header swung past the upright, then Olof Mellberg threw himself at a powerful Angelo Palombo strike.

Del Piero went on a counter, but Accardi did very well to intercept his backheel for Pavel Nedved in the box. A long throw-in was nodded on by Amauri for Del Piero to half-volley over from close range.

Cassano had a great chance at the dawn of the second half, as his remarkably powerful free kick whistled past the post. Soon after, Sammarco nodded a corner kick just over the bar, as he didn't even have to jump between the distracted Juve defenders.

Amauri curled over and Alex Manninger flicked a free kick out from the top corner. Del Piero made way for Vincenzo Iaquinta, bearing in mind also that Juve must play BATE Borisov in the Champions League on Tuesday. Samp also made a change, as Palombo limped off for Daniele Dessena.

Mirante captured an audacious Nedved volley and in the final minute a corner was finding Stankevicius at the back post, but Chiellini bravely intervened. Lithuanian international Stankevicius again went close, as he was clear when Nedved flung himself at the snapshot from 10 yards.

There was another scare in stoppages with Dessena's volley with the outside of his right foot caught by Manninger.
Sampdoria: Mirante; Lucchini (Bottinelli 80), Gastaldello, Accardi; Stankevicius, Sammarco, Palombo (Dessena 74), Franceschini, Pieri; Delvecchio (Bonazzoli 87); Cassano

Juventus: Manninger; Grygera, Mellberg, Chiellini, Molinaro; Camoranesi, Poulsen, Sissoko, Nedved; Amauri, Del Piero (Iaquinta 74)

Ref: Rizzoli

Moments later Nicola Legrottaglie had to slide in to block Rodionov's progress, then Camoranesi was again decisive at the back to clear a knocked-down free kick in the six-yard area.

Juve were under constant pressure and BATE took a deserved lead after 17 minutes. Once again Kryvets sprung the offside trap on a ball through the central defenders, waltzed round Alex Manninger and deposted the ball into an empty net.

Legrottaglie picked up a knock and it showed in his lack of pace, so he was substituted with Dario Knezevic straight after the goal.

Juve were pinned back and a fiercce Nekhaychik free kick was well wide, but BATE made it 2-0 moments later. Once again the defence was caught short as a long coss from the left had only Pavel Nedved defending an Igor Stasevich header at the back post. It was an excellent finish from the Borisov man, whose header floated over Manninger into the far corner.

Zdenek Grygera went into the book, but there was a comeback as Alessandro Del Piero's spectacularly dipping free kick was fingertipped out from under the crossbar. From the resulting corner Giovinco floated a strong cross in for Vincenzo Iaquinta's towering header from seven yards, but there are suspicions of offside.

It was a much more balanced match now and the Bianconeri started to test the BATE back line. Iaquinta's header was parried by the goalkeeper, but the linesman flagged a dubious offside position.

Del Piero's free kick went over and Manninger was alert on Momo Sissoko's misplaced backpass. BATE had a series of crosses dealt with by Chiellini, often when he was on his own against two forwards jumping for the ball.

Juve had a great chance to equalise on the stroke of half-time with Giovinco sparking a counter-attack that Nedved then blasted to test Veremko at the near post.

Iaquinta completed the comeback from 0-2 to 2-2 three minutes into first half stoppages! Giovinco was again the provider, threading a diagonal through ball for Iaquinta's angled drive from 10 yards.

Claudio Marchisio replaced Camoranesi for a more solid midfield in the second half. Nekhaychik still wasted a good opportunity with his terrible sliding finish on a Kryvets cutback. Volodko went even closer moments later, anticipating De Ceglie for a powerful header that skimmed the near post from Yurevich's cross.

Less than 20 seconds after that, a Nedved screamer stung the palms of Veremko, as it remained a very open game.

Del Piero had a wonderful opportunity as he burst through the centre to anticipate the on-rushing goalkeeper with the tip of his boot, but the chip was off target of an open goal.

Sissoko wasted a promising counter-attack by going for goal with his effort deflected over rather than pass out to Giovinco or Del Piero. From the resulting corner, Chiellini nodded wide.

Del Piero went on a magnificent slalom, dribbling through three tackles before his shot was charged down from nine yards. The pressure continued with a Nedved snapshot drifting just wide.

Juve were taking charge and Veremko had to rush out to kick the ball away from Giovinco, then Del Piero combined with Giovinco outside the box for the captain to unleash a snapshot just wide.

Chiellini did very well to intercept Sivakov in the penalty area and Amauri replaced Iaquinta for the final nine minutes. The former Palermo striker has been by far their most prolific player so far this season and would've started had it not been for a flu virus that zapped much of his energy.

Nedved nodded off target and in the final minute a spectacular Chiellini overhead kick from Del Piero's assist was smothered by the goalkeeper. Manninger also controlled a Rodionov counter.