Juventus joined Napoli in a share of third place in Serie A but failed to take full advantage of AC Milan's failure to beat Sampdoria earlier today as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Fiorentina.

An own goal from Marco Motta put the visitors in front in the fourth minute, but Simone Pepe levelled eight minutes from the end to earn Juventus a deserved point at the Stadio Olimpico.

Fiorentina goalkeeper Artur Boruc was at fault for that goal but also made a string of excellent saves as the hosts raised the pressure in the second half. La Viola also survived the dismissal of Felipe with seven minutes to go.

Fiorentina made a dream start when Juan Vargas' powerful cross from the left took a deflection off Motta to divert inside Marco Storari's near post. Juve reacted well to the unexpected early blow and came close to an equaliser several times in the first half.

Claudio Marchisio's shot was too central and Boruc made an easy save in the 20th minute, and Alessandro Del Piero blazed a volley over the crossbar in the 28th minute when Felipe Melo's shot deflected out kindly to him.

Boruc was intent on keeping a clean sheet and he repeatedly repelled Juve's assaults to keep his team in front.

He denied Del Piero with a fine one-handed save from a trademark free-kick from the Italian before making two excellent saves, first from Vincenzo Iaquinta and then from Giorgio Chiellini.

But he ruined all of his good work with an error which cost his side dearly in the 82nd minute. He took a step off his line and was unable to reach back to keep Pepe's curling free-kick out as the Italian forward's second goal of the season earned I Bianconeri a point.

Fiorentina had to battle with only ten men for the last seven minutes when Felipe was shown a red card for a foul on Milos Krasic. But they held on for a valuable point which still leaves them in the bottom half of the table.