Cristiano Ronaldo was rested and Juventus crashed to their first Serie A defeat of the season at Genoa on Sunday following their Champions League heroics, as Inter won a fiery Milan derby clash 3-2 to move into third ahead of city rivals AC Milan.
Ronaldo had fired Juventus into the European quarter-finals with a comeback victory over Atletico Madrid last Tuesday.
Without him the team slumped to a 2-0 defeat but still remain comfortably on track for an eighth consecutive league title.
Juventus's lead was cut to 15 points by Napoli who got back winning, prevailing 4-2 against Udinese after goalkeeper David Ospina collapsed on the pitch after suffering a head injury.
The on-loan Arsenal goalkeeper was later given the all clear following a CT scan at a Naples hospital.
Juventus had won 24 of their 27 previous matches in Serie A this season with three draws, including a 1-1 stalemate against Genoa in Turin.
"It's not a tragedy, but I'm sorry because we wanted to remain unbeaten," said Allegri. You can't play all the games at your maximum. The Champions League match certainly weighed heavy."
- 'Time to unplug' -
====================
"Much like the Coppa Italia defeat to Atalanta, we picked the right game to lose, because it's just before the break for international duty, so we have time to unplug and rest."
- Inter edge derby -
====================
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content