Defending champion Juventus was poised to regain control of the Italian title race, closing the gap on leader Napoli to one point with a game in hand after Paulo Dybala's superb injury-time winner beat lazio 1-0 on Saturday.
The script could not have been written any better for Juventus, which is chasing a seventh straight Serie A title and 34th overall. If Dybala's 93rd-minute winner wasn't already enough to celebrate, lazio's cross-city rival Roma then did Juve a huge favor by winning at Napoli 4-2.
Striker Edin Dzeko netted twice for a rampant Roma which jumped above lazio and into third place by one point. They are in a fierce fight with Inter Milan - preparing for the Milan derby on Sunday - for a Champions league place next season.
ROMA ROMP
livewire lorenzo Insigne gave Napoli the perfect start by sweeping in Mario Rui's cross from the left after six minutes.
But home celebrations ended one minute later when in-form Turkey forward Cengiz Under scored an audacious but slightly deflected lob over Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina from inside the penalty area. He was found by Radja Nainggolan after Napoli lost possession in midfield.
Then, the imposing Dzeko easily rose above Raul Albiol to plant a firm header past Reina from Alessandro Florenzi's cross. Both players were on Roma's bench last week in the home loss to AC Milan, but probably won't be anymore.
Napoli sent on all-time leading club scorer Marek Hamsik midway through the second half to spark its attack, and seconds later Insigne's quick shot from outside the box curled just wide.
But Dzeko produced a masterful goal in the 73rd. Expertly controlling the ball some 30 meters out, he beat two players before bending the ball out of Reina's reach and into the bottom left corner from the right edge of the penalty area.
Insigne was Napoli's main threat and twice had shots saved shortly after Dzeko's second goal. But Napoli's awful defending could not go unpunished and Diego Perotti blasted in the fourth after a cross from the left was badly dealt with.
Napoli's players hardly celebrated when Dries Mertens slotted in an injury-time consolation goal.
Elsewhere, midfielder Alberto Grassi's goal early in the second half gave struggling Spal a much-needed 1-0 home win against Bologna.