Serie A leading scorer Ciro Immobile converted a contentious second-half penalty to propel second-placed Lazio to a 2-1 comeback win over Fiorentina that kept it four points behind leader Juventus on Saturday.
Franck Ribery stunned the host with a solo goal in the 25th minute and Lazio was struggling to get back into the game until Felipe Caicedo went down under a challenge from goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski and Immobile converted his 28th goal of the season in the 67th minute.
Luis Alberto grabbed the winner with seven minutes left to leave Lazio with 65 points, with Juve on 69, and keep the title race well and truly alive with 10 matches each to play.
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Lazio, which saw a 21-match unbeaten run ended at Atalanta on Wednesday, was caught out when 37-year-old Ribery collected the ball on the left, slipped between two defenders, glided past a third and fired a shot past Thomas Strakosha.
The visitor nearly added another after halftime as Castrovilli saw a curling shot turned away by Strakosha and Rachid Ghezzal's chip hit the crossbar.
Despite more possession, Lazio was making little headway against Fiorentina's purple wall of defenders but it got a break when Caicedo intercepted a cross on his chest, then went down under a challenge from Dragowski.
Although replays suggested that the Ecuadorean fell before any contact was made, the referee pointed to the spot, there was no VAR review and Immobile sent Dragowski the wrong way.
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It got another break seven minutes from time when the ball bounced into Luis Alberto's path and he fired a low shot past Dragowski.
Fiorentina's frustration got the better of it as Dusan Vlahovic was sent off after VAR officials caught him elbowing Gil Patric.
Cagliari overcomes Torino
Cagliari won for the second time in four days when it beat Torino 4-2 in Serie A on Saturday in its first home game since Walter Zenga was appointed as coach.
The Sardinians, who ended a 12-match winless run by beating SPAL on Wednesday, raced to a 2-0 lead in 17 minutes with goals from Nahitan Nandez and Giovanni Simeone, who was on target for the third game running.
Cagliari was awarded a penalty for handball three minutes before halftime but the decision was reversed following a VAR review.
However, midfielder Radja Nainggolan, playing his first game since the COVID-19 stoppage as he returned from a calf injury, added a third with a low shot within a minute of the restart.
Torino was not finished and pulled it back to 3-2 when Bremer scored with an acrobatic finish on the hour and Andrea Belotti volleyed his eleventh goal of the season five minutes later.
But the fightback ended when Luca Pellegrini was fouled and Joao Pedro converted for his 17th goal of the season, leaving Cagliari 10th with 38 points and Torino 14th with 31.
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