Juventus hit the woodwork three times and had a goal controversially disallowed as they were held 0-0 at Genoa on Sunday, their sixth draw in seven Serie A games leaving them further behind leaders AC Milan.
Juve dropped four points behind champions Milan who beat Lecce 2-0 with goals from Antonio Nocerino and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swede's 19th league goal of the season.
The fireworks were at third-placed Lazio, who had two players sent off and lost 3-1 at home to Bologna despite being gifted a bizarre own goal.
Daniele Portanova and Alessandro Diamanti put Bologna 2-0 ahead in half an hour, then Lazio had Matuzalem sent off for elbowing before the break.
Lazio pulled one back in the 56th minute when Bologna defender Matteo Rubin's backpass wrong-footed goalkeeper Jean-Francois Gillet and trickled into the net.
But Lazio had Alvaro Gonzalez sent off two minutes later for a tackle from behind and Rene Krhin almost immediately made it 3-1 for Bologna, his goal followed by a shirtless celebration.
Milan moved on to 57 points from 27 games with Juventus on 53 and Lazio on 48.
Udinese, level fourth with Napoli on 46 points, lost 1-0 at lowly Novara, who moved off the bottom with 20 points.
Lecce's defeat left them in deep trouble with 25 points in 18th place, six adrift of Cagliari and safety.
Cesena, bottom with 17 points, went down 2-0 at home to Siena in a match which hinged on a controversial incident in the 73rd minute.
Fiorentina's indifferent season continued with a 1-0 defeat at Catania that left them 15th with 32 points. Francesco Lodi scored with a penalty just before the hour for the Sicilians who are eighth with 38 points.
Milan, who survived in the Champions League by the skin of their teeth after losing 3-0 at Arsenal on Tuesday for a 4-3 aggregate win, took a seventh-minute lead against Lecce with Nocerino's deflected shot.
Ibrahimovic, who scored a 15-minute hat-trick in the 4-0 win at Palermo last week, rifled home a volley in the 65th minute from another chance set up by Robinho.
