Cristiano Ronaldo's run of scoring in six league games ended as jittery Juventus were held to a 3-3 draw at Sassuolo and missed the chance to go nine points clear at the top of Serie A.
Despite the setback, Juve remain seven points ahead of Atalanta, who beat Brescia 6-2 on Tuesday, and eight points ahead of Lazio with five games remaining.
It was Juve's third straight match without a win after a 4-2 loss against AC Milan – after going 2-0 up – and a 2-2 draw against Atalanta.
“A coach demands consistency from his own team and at the moment we’re struggling to keep that, both physically and mentally,” coach Maurizio Sarri said.
“We have really good moments alternated with moments of passivity that are difficult to understand.
“Although it should be said that we are facing teams in great form such as Atalanta and Sassuolo. But we have to resolve this problem of highs and lows.”
Juve seemed to be cruising early as they went 2-0 up within 12 minutes following goals from Danilo and Gonzalo Higuain.
However, Filip Duricic pulled one back in the 29th minute and Sassuolo had the better of the chances at the end of the first half.
Sassuolo turned things around shortly after the break as Domenico Berardi equalised with a free kick and set up Francesco Caputo three minutes later.
Alex Sandro headed in a corner for Juventus to level in the 64th and Bianconeri goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny pulled off a number of important saves throughout the match to leave the Bianconeri ultimately grateful for a point.
