Palermo brought an end to Sassuolo's rise up the Serie A standings and furthered their own with a dramatic 2-1 win at the Stadio Renzo Barbera where the Neroverdi finished with nine men.
Luca Rigoni's goal in the third minute gave Palermo the lead, but even though Sassuolo lost their goalkeeper Andrea Consigli to a red card, they levelled late on through substitute Leonardo Pavoletti.
There was even more drama to come, though, as Andrea Belotti restored Palermo's advantage deep in stoppage time before Paolo Cannavaro was shown Sassuolo's second red card of the evening.
Palermo, who are now unbeaten in eight games, made a flying start with Rigoni freeing himself from his marker to head Paulo Dybala's corner into the bottom left-hand corner of Consigli's goal.
Dybala missed another chance before Sassuolo's first shot on goal arrived from the feet of Saphir Taider, but Stefano Sorrentino was alert.
Dybala went close again on the hour mark before Enzo Maresca headed inches wide with Palermo increasing the pressure, which got to Consigli as he raced out of his goal and felled Dybala, earning a red card in the 66th minute.
Franco Vazquez missed two gilt-edged chances in the space of a minute with Alberto Pomini, on for Antonio Floro Flores to take Consigli's place between the posts, keeping Sassuolo in with a sniff.
His heroics proved worthwhile as Pavoletti netted his first Serie A goal at the other end with five minutes to play, punishing Palermo and their defender Sinisa Andelkovic, whose block from Sergio Floccari's shot laid the ball on a plate for him to level.
Four minutes of stoppage time were given and they turned out to be the most dramatic of the whole game.
Belotti put Palermo back in front from Vazquez's pass before Simone Zaza missed another great opportunity to level.
It all got too much for Cannavaro, who was shown a straight red card for a foul out of frustration on Dybala, who got up to celebrate Palermo's seventh game unbeaten while Sassuolo's nine-game unbeaten run came to an end.