Juventus had two goals disallowed and a clear penalty denied as they lose their unbeaten record to relegation strugglers Reggina.
Fabio Capello rotated the squad once again, as Alessandro Del Piero was benched in favour of Marcelo Zalayeta, while Gianluca Pessotto replaced the injured Jonathan Zebina. The decision to rest Del Piero might also have been affected by the appalling state of the Stadio Granillo pitch.
Reggina were forced to do without the suspended Mozart, as the midfielder failed a routine drugs test for a substance the club claims was contained within an anti-mosquito bite cream. Salvatore Soviero made his Serie A debut in goal, making his comeback after a five-month ban for punching members of the Messina bench during their Second Division encounter with Venezia.
Juve quickly took control and Gianluca Zambrotta's cross-cum-shot whistled across the face of goal. Zlatan Ibrahimovic also had a good chance, but the visitors were in for a shock.
After just 12 minutes Reggina took the lead with an extraordinarily fortunate goal. Fabio Cannavaro cleared the ball straight at Giuseppe Colucci inside the area and it ricocheted off his hip to loop over a stranded Buffon. It was the first goal Juventus have conceded on their travels this season.
However, the lead didn't last any longer than 90 seconds, as a terrible defensive error from Gaetano De Rosa allowed Ibrahimovic to steal the ball and thump a low drive into the near corner.
The Swede was particularly lively and battled his way through two defenders before a third managed to close him down on the edge of the six-yard box.
Soviero smothered Zalayeta's shot, but the Amaranto were again lucky to restore their lead on 25 minutes. A powerful razor-sharp Marco Zamboni free kick took a slight deflection off Manuele Blasi to push the ball past Buffon. Zamboni is a former Juventus player and made his Serie A debut with this club in 1997.
It was an action-packed first half, as Emerson's delightful lob floated just over the crossbar.
Reggina felt Lady Luck was behind them and Emiliano Bonazzoli's long-range strike was fingertipped round the post by Buffon. Moments later Zamboni's cross beat everyone, including Bonazzoli, who only needed to stretch to put it in.
At the other end Zambrotta's floated cross had a similar effect, with panicked Reggina defenders able to clear from Mauro Camoranesi at the back post.
There was controversy on 37 minutes, as Jacopo Balestri clearly handled in the box, but the move continued and Soviero performed a fine save on Emerson's strike from the edge of the area.
The Amaranto certainly did not batten down the hatches and Cannavaro required an acrobatic header to prevent Bonazzoli latching on to Balestri's cross.
Bonazzoli and Manuele Blasi had long range efforts smothered as the shots kept raining in from all angles at both ends of the pitch.
It was definitely not Juve's night, as at the start of the second half Zalayeta's powerful header on a Zambrotta cross thumped the outside of the post with Soviero static.
Camoranesi's effort was deflected off De Rosa, again possibly with an arm, and on the resulting corner Soviero smothered Cannavaro's header.
Ibrahimovic thought he had drawn level again on the hour mark, but the referee had already blown the whistle earlier for an elbow on Ivan Franceschini inside the box. Contact was made, but how intentional was unclear.
Soviero was at full stretch to turn an Ibrahimovic cross-shot round the post as the siege intensified. Fabio Capello needed to spice them up and threw on Alex Del Piero and Ruben Olivera for Zalayeta and Pessotto, moving Juventus to a three-man defence.
There was bad news for the Amaranto, as Giuseppe Colucci hacked down Olivera for his second bookable offence, so the home side had to play the remaining 17 minutes in ten men. It was an avoidable incident, as his first yellow card was for removing his jersey in the goal celebrations.
Olivera saw Soviero off his line and thumped an effort just wide from almost 30 metres out, then Del Piero's scuffed half-volley bobbled past the post.
The Reggina goalkeeper punched a free kick off the head of Ibrahimovic, but the home side also had a good chance when Buffon blocked Davide Dionigi's snapshot.
There was panic in the Amaranto box during stoppages when Soviero twice fumbled a harmless cross, but managed to get it back under control before Ibrahimovic could pounce.
There was one more incident to go, as in the final minute of stoppages Juventus seemed to draw level. Substitute Olivier Kapo sprung the offside trap and chested down the ball before rifling it into the far corner, but after several tense moments of consultation with the linesman, the goal was disallowed for a handling offence.
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