Nine-man Genoa edged out Napoli in a five-goal thriller at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Sunday.
Ezequiel Lavezzi put Napoli ahead after just 26 seconds but the home side leveled through Sokratis Papastathopoulos on the stroke of half-time before going ahead through Raffaele Palladino's effort after 52 minutes.
Three minutes later Genoa lost their captain Marco Rossi for a professional foul on Lavezzi, but they nevertheless extended their lead to 3-1 when summer signing Diego Milito netted 17 minutes from time.
German Denis brought Napoli back into the game just two minutes later but the visitors failed to grab an equalizer - even after the hosts were reduced to nine when Papastathopoulos saw a second yellow card in the final minute.
A dramatic afternoon was always on the cards after the first goal arrived inside 30 seconds, Lavezzi catching the home defense cold as he lashed in a shot from 10 yards to finish off the first attack of the match.
Genoa sought an instant reply with Palladino looking lively up top while Giuseppe Sculli's cross almost ended in the back of the net as Napoli goalkeeper Matteo Giannello misjudged the flight of the ball.
Napoli were still creating chances, however, and Rubinho was called on to make a fantastic one-handed save to deny Denis' header from eight yards.
The game then turned rather sour when Genoa's Francesco Modesto had to be carried from the field with a suspected broken leg after a hard but fair tackle by Christian Maggio.
The Genoa fans vented their anger at the Napoli number 11 and soon had more reason to get hot under the collar when the referee disallowed Milito's strike after 40 minutes - although the official appeared to make the correct call.
But the home fans' frustration turned to joy just moments later as Greek defender Papastathopoulos opened his account for the club after staying up following a corner to send the teams into the interval on level terms.
Things got better for Genoa seven minutes after the restart when Palladino fired them ahead for the first time in the match as he put the finishing touch to an excellent team move after being set up by Milito.
But Genoa soon found themselves with their backs to the wall when Rossi picked up a straight red card for hauling down Lavezzi with 35 minutes still to play.
Genoa coped well, however, and even increased their advantage when Milito headed Ivan Juric's cross past Gianello after 73 minutes.
But Denis' goal two minutes later set up a grandstand finish, which saw Napoli come close to grabbing an equalizer when Francesco Montervino's goalbound shot was blocked by Domenico Criscito.
Genoa ended the game two men light as Papastathopoulos was shown a second yellow card at the end of normal time, but the hosts weathered the Napoli storm in the five minutes of injury time that followed, and when Rubinho saved spectacularly to deny Denis, the writing was on the wall for the visitors.
