Luciano Spalletti insisted on shaking hands with Massimiliano Allegri after his Napoli side thumped Juventus 5-1 on Friday, with the Juventus boss seemingly keen to exit the field.
The Napoli boss tried to catch his opponent's eyes after the game as Allegri made for the tunnel at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona with his eyes seemingly glued to the floor, before eventually spotting Spalletti and shaking his hand.
Victor Osimhen continued his rampant form since the restart by starring for the Neapolitans as their champagne football came out on top over Juventus' ugly style, with the hosts moving 10 points clear at the top of Serie A.
With the game won, Spalletti appeared to offer his hand for what he thought was a forthcoming handshake from his beaten rival, but Allegri seemed to have different plans.
The Juventus boss turned on his heel and marched straight towards the tunnel, leaving Spalletti in the awkward position with his hand extended, but he refused to let Allegri leave without the sporting gesture.
Spalletti then pursued Allegri towards the tunnel for several seconds, with the latter seemingly oblivious to his extended hand, before at last seeing the Napoli coach and giving him a less than warm embrace.
Juve had come into the game looking a far tougher nut to crack than they had during the start of the season when they were largely written off as title contenders, winning eight matches in a row ahead of their meeting with the leaders.
But a brace from Osimhen, as well as goals from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Amir Rrahmani and Elif Elmas ensured that streak was ended on Friday night.
'The team played a great game, kept the pace high,' Spalletti told DAZN after the game.
'It was a beautiful evening, especially because there was a great crowd. The Neapolitans are always behind us but this team was able to recreate love for these colours.'
With that run of eight consecutive wins, Juventus had entered the title race, having begun the day seven points behind Napoli, level with AC Milan and therefore could have moved into second with a point.
But Angel di Maria's goal just before half-time to make it 2-1 failed to inspire a fightback, as the visitors were put to the sword in the second period.
'This was a deserved defeat, because we went into the game with less energy,' Allegri said after his 450th clash in Serie A as a manager.
'The situations we conceded were also fairly easy to read and predict, but sometimes luck is on your side and sometimes it isn't. We tried to turn it around towards halftime, but Napoli fully deserved (to win).'
