Amato Ciciretti stunned the home fans with an exquisite free kick in the 19th minute and Benevento led for 38 minutes until Gonzalo Higuain and Juan Cuadrado turned the game around.

Benevento's defeat meant they equaled the record for the longest losing streak at the start of the season in the top five European leagues, set by Manchester United in 1930/31.

Douglas Costa twice hit the woodwork for Juve early on before Ciciretti curled a free kick past Wojciech Szczesny to give Benevento a lead nobody had expected.

Juve kept pouring forward and missing chances until Higuain acrobatically hooked the ball past Alberto Brignoli in the 57th minute.

Nine minutes later, Brignoli misjudged Alex Sandro's cross by staying on his line and Cuadrado crept in at the far post to score with a powerful downward header.

Juventus still had to survive nervous moments and Danilo Cataldi nearly grabbed an equalizer with a dipping long-range effort.

"It seemed like the game was jinxed, the ball did not want to go (in), but we managed to turn it around," Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said.

"We risked conceding an equalizer towards the (end of the)game, maybe we thought that the game was already over. We have to understand that no game is ever easy."

Juve's win closed the gap on Napoli to one point after the leaders were held 0-0 at Chievo, dropping points for only the second time this season, and moved the champions into second place above Inter Milan, who were held 1-1 at home by Torino.

In the evening game, big-spending AC Milan, with only one win in their previous seven games in all competitions, eased the pressure on coach Vincenzo Montella with a 2-0 win at struggling Sassuolo.

Napoli, who like Inter are unbeaten, have 32 points from 12 games, followed by Juventus (31), Inter (30), Lazio (28) and Roma (27).

REUTERS