Napoli made a huge step towards the Scudetto with a thrilling 3-2 victory away to Atalanta, as Matteo Politano, Scott McTominay and Romelu Lukaku ended La Dea's run.

It was a top of the table showdown, with four points separating them. La Dea had been unbeaten in 15, but had drawn their last three in a row. They were missing suspended Sead Kolasinac, injured Odilon Kossounou, Juan Cuadrado and Gianluca Scamacca. Napoli's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia completed his transfer to PSG yesterday, but David Neres has already taken over the role with Juan Jesus again filling in for injured Alessandro Buongiorno.

When these two teams met in November, Atalanta won 3-0 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, with Retegui scoring late on.

The Capocannoniere made his return to the starting XI after his injury and made an immediate impact, smashing a fierce left-footed finish into the near top corner from 10 yards after gathering with his back to goal.

Napoli drew level with their first real opportunity and a very similar strike, because David Neres saw his cross deflected into the path of Matteo Politano, who, in an unusually central role, took a first touch before smashing it into the near top corner with his left foot.

It was wide open and after Ademola Lookman drilled wide, the Partenopei turned it around. David Neres helped win the ball back at the corner flag and his lovely back-heel flick set up Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa to pull back, Scott McTominay sweeping it first-time into the roof of the net from 12 yards.

Retegui fired over from a tricky angle on the Lazar Samardzic through ball, but Lookman created the equaliser out of nothing by flicking the ball around the sliding Giovanni Di Lorenzo, then taking on three players to thread his finish through a sea of legs.

Atalanta were really going for it in the second half, with Lookman's slide-rule pass setting up Samardzic to test Alex Meret at the near post, and the goalkeeper making a one-handed save on Charles De Ketelaere's header.

After that, Napoli went back in front as Anguissa stood up a cross from the left for his second assist of the game, Lukaku's glancing header into the far bottom corner when shrugging off Giorgio Scalvini.

Next week, Napoli will face Juventus, who just beat AC Milan 2-0 in the league. Atalanta are still in with a chance of the Champions League and, after their midweek game against Graz Storm, their Serie A opponent will be Como.