Title-chasing Napoli were left provisionally top of Serie A thanks to superior goals difference Sunday after a Nikola Kalinic-inspired Fiorentina were held 2-2 by Empoli in Florence.
Earlier, Gonzalo Higuain hit his 10th goal of the campaign to take the lead in Serie A's scoring charts and fire Napoli one-point clear of Fiorentina after a 2-0 win at struggling Verona.
But Fiorentina maintained their hopes in what continues to be a thrilling battle for this season's scudetto and were unlucky not to go two points clear after spurning a series of late chances at the Artemio Franchi.
Inter Milan, in fourth at just one point off the pace, will return to the top of the table with a win over Frosinone at the San Siro in Sunday's late game.
In the meantime, Napoli will enjoy at least a few hours as the new Serie A leaders, although Fiorentina also have 28 points and Roma are one adrift in third place after being held 2-2 at Bologna on Saturday.
Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri applauded his side's "patient" approach against a defence-minded Verona.
"The win was largely down to us being patient, because it's easy to lose your head playing against a team like that," said Sarri.
"At times their formation was a 6-3-1. We did well to keep moving the ball around and eventually tire them out.
Empoli travelled to Florence looking for their fourth win in six league outings and were well on their way after taking a 2-0 half-time lead thanks to goals from Marko Livaja and Marcel Buchel.
Paulo Sousa had rested his most potent strike pair, Kalinic and Josip Ilicic, with one eye on Thursday's Europa League clash against the coach's former club, FC Basel.
But the canny Portuguese handler soon changed tack, Kalinic and Federico Bernardeschi replacing Mario Suarez and Ante Rebic in the second half.
The impact was almost immediate, Croatia marksman Kalinic reducing arrears with a finely-taken header from just outside the six-yard box that Lukasz Skorupski could only swipe at in the 56th minute.
Kalinic had his brace inside five minutes when he squeezed between two defenders to slot Babarcar's low delivery home after the Senegalese striker had been given acres of space on the right.
Kalinic could have secured his second hat-trick of the season, after his triple in a 4-1 win at Inter Milan, 13 minutes from the end but saw his first-timer from eight yards out glance off the top of the crossbar.
Babacar made way for Giuseppe Rossi moments later but Kalinic, with an acrobatic effort at the back post, and then Matias Vecino, whose long-distance drive forced Skorupski into action came closest to securing all three points.
Sousa applauded his side's second-half comeback but admitted he would not repeat the same starting line-up.
"After seeing our performance in the first half, I wouldn't send out the same starting team again," he told Mediaset.
"We're very happy with our second half and showed enough character to level and also win. I think we deserved more."
Elsewhere, ex-Fiorentina boss Vincenzo Montella began his reign at Sampdoria with a 1-0 defeat at Udinese, where Emmanuel Badu's 35th minute strike secured the hosts' second home win of the season.
Having left La Viola under a cloud last season, Montella raised smiles when he explained why he was forced to drive from Rome to Genoa in a Smart car.
"It was all I had. Fiorentina also took my car away," said Montella, who admitted his new job is set to keep him busy.
"This team has a lot of hidden potential, but we have a lot of work to do. We didn't deserve to lose, but that's football."
(For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
Short link: