A brace from former Juventus target Ramus Hojlund, and a well-taken strike by Kenan Yildiz lit up the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona as Napoli beat Juve 2-1 on Sunday.
With Spalletti back at the club that he had unexpectedly and majestically steered to the 2022/23 Scudetto, he was harshly given a taste of his own medicine over the opening 45 minutes.
Spalletti's Napoli had torn opponents apart during that campaign. Fast forward to the present time, and ex-Juventus manager Antonio Conte had his Napoli side purring past the bewlldered Bianconeri during a totally uneven first half.
Spalletti showed that he lacked confidence in misfiring strikers Jonathan David and Lois Openda by playing his two wingers in attack. Francisco Conceicao was expected to lead the frontline along side Turkish talent Yildiz as a false no9.
This tweak in tactics, with Weston McKennie sitting behind the pair and trying to impress potential suitors Napoli, simply failed. Had this contest been a boxing match, it would have been stopped early. Juventus just couldn't click, outplayed, outmuscled and outwitted.
Napoli let Juve off the hook
The hosts should have entered the half-time with a healthy 3-0 advantage, but recently crowned Serie A Player of the Year Scott McTominay steered a couple of close-range headers narrowly wide of the target.
For all of their dominance, Napoli only had Holjund's seventh-minute goal to show. A neat move was exquisitely polished off by the Dutch ace, who ended his goal drought in Italy by guiding the ball underneath overworked keeper Michele Di Gregorio and into the bottom left corner.
Spalletti relented to bringing on goal poacher David for defensive midfielder Juan Cabal for the second half. There was better balance after the turnaround, with Napoli suddenly unable to attack at every opportunity like they had enjoyed,
Yildiz rewrites Juventus history
McKennie set up Yildiz from a tight angle on the right-hand side, with the 20-year-old trickling the ball past keeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic for an equalizer and to write himself into Juve's record books.
Yildiz became only the second Juventus player under the age of 21 to bag five goals in the club's opening 15 Serie A games. Fittingly, the no10 followed in the footsteps of his soccer hero Alessandro Del Piero who sported the iconic no10 Juve jersey during his stellar career.
Although the battling Bianconeri had a sniff for success, they were still playing second fiddle to slick opponents. Holjund's overdue headed goal with 12 minutes remaining sent the home fans into vocal joy as the stadium exploded.
Spalletti remained subdued throughout the clash, and was used to such excited scenes on and off the pitch during his Napoli tenure that he marked with a tattoo of the club's crest on his left arm.
Juventus flying off the pitch
He knows what Napoli fans can be like, after having his car stolen but anonymously sent the steering wheel back in honor of winning the Serie A title. So wisely he ensured that his troops caught a plane back following their defeat, rather than remain in the city overnight.
Juve's defeat leaves them languishing in seventh place, but things could soon shift in their favor should they bag maximum points against Bologna and AS Roma before Christmas.
In contrast, Conte's team remain unbeaten on home soil this calendar year. They leaped over AC Milan and Inter Milan to sit pretty as Serie A leaders.
Second-best Spalletti
Spalletti, who oversaw arguably the worse 45 minutes from a Juventus side this century, admitted in his post-match press conference: "We found ourselves blocked up in midfield in the first half, unable to make the most of the numerical advantage in there.
"But we were better in the second [half]. We chased them higher up the pitch, but they did well and caused us problems.. We took control after we scored, but we played it safe without looking for that extra something.
"We need to move forward quickly. We can do better than we did today, we lost the ball too much. If you don’t grab control of the match, you ended up playing the opposition’s game."
JUVENTUS: Di Gregorio - Koopmeiners, Kelly, Kalulu - Cabal (David, 45), Thuram (Zhegrova. 82), Locatelli, Cambiaso (Kostic. 71) - McKennie - Yildiz (Openda, 76), Conceicao (Miretti 76). Subs: Perin, Adzic, Mario, David, Rouhi, Scaglia, Filipe.