Napoli piled further pressure on Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas with a 3-1 victory over the Blues in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the San Paolo.
Villas-Boas, who left several of his star names on the bench and was without the injured John Terry, looked set for a welcome boost when Juan Mata opened the scoring but Napoli hit back strongly with a double from Ezequiel Lavezzi sandwiching Edinson Cavani's goal.
Chelsea found themselves under the cosh in the early stages as Petr Cech parried an effort from Lavezzi and kept out Cavani's shot with his right boot before tipping away Christian Maggio's drive.
But they were gifted a 27th-minute lead when Paolo Cannavaro sliced Daniel Sturridge's cross straight into the path of Mata who coolly side-footed home.
Napoli levelled on 38 when Raul Meireles allowed Lavezzi space on the edge of the area to curl in a 25-yard shot.
Chelsea were then stunned by a second Napoli goal on the stroke of half-time as Cavani stole in behind Branislav Ivanovic to convert Gokhan Inler's cross with his shoulder.
The visitors enjoyed a good spell at the start of the second half although Lavezzi missed a golden chance for the hosts before David Luiz's error handed him the opportunity to make amends on 65 with Cavani teeing him up.
It could have been worse for the Blues but Ashley Cole was perfectly placed to clear Maggio's shot off the line, while fellow sub Frank Lampard went close to grabbing a late goal for Chelsea.
Villas-Boas was left rueing a missed chance and poor defending. Daniel Sturridge wasted a glorious opportunity to play in Mata for a second Chelsea goal, before Lavezzi was given space for the equaliser.
In the second half, David Luiz kicked a long ball straight against Cavani, who squared past the stranded Cech for Lavezzi to steer into an unguarded net.
The Chelsea boss said on Sky Sports: "We had a chance to go 2-0 up and a couple of defensive mistakes that against Napoli, with their attacking strength, will get punished.
"A one-goal disadvantage would have been a bit better but it is not impossible to recover 3-1 because of the number of chances we get and the environment we must create to turn this tie around and go through.
"We will analyse strongly what we did wrongly because a couple of things need to get better. We have the
knowledge we can create problems with our attacking options.
"In the end the statistics were similar, both teams created a lot, the game was open and end to end.
"Napoli scored their third goal in our best period and it took us a little bit down. Didier Drogba had a chance at the end - but there is a big possibility, with this away goal, to turn the tie around."
Asked about his team selection - he did not start with Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Ashley Cole or Fernando Torres - Villas-Boas said: "You can have your opinion but it was based on what was the best team in my thoughts."
Asked if he believed if he would still be in charge for the second leg, the Portuguese added: "For sure."
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