Wesley Sneijder and Samuel Eto'o embrace after one of Inter Milan's goals in their thrilling 5-3 victory over Roma.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Defending champions Inter Milan continue their march up the Italian Serie A table
• They defeat 10-man Roma 5-3 in a San Siro thriller to move up to third place
• Milan remain top but they drop two points as they are held to a 1-1 draw at Genoa
• Napoli close to within two points of the leaders after comfortable 2-0 win over Cesena

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(CNN) -- Defending champions Inter Milan continued their march up the Italian Serie A table, beating 10-man Roma 5-3 in a thriller at the San Siro.

Samuel Eto'o scored twice, with the returning Wesley Sneijder, Thiago Motta and Esteban Cambiasso also on target as Leonardo's side moved up to third place in the table, five points behind leaders Milan but with a game in hand.

Inter took a third minute lead when Sneijder fired home an unstoppable shot after collecting Maicon's pass but Roma levelled 10 minutes later when Simplicio turned in Marco Cassetti's cross.

However, the home side went into the break 2-1 ahead when Eto'o fired a shot that slipped through the hands of goalkeeper Sergio.

The game turned Inter's way early in the second half when Nicolas Burdisso was sent after fouling Giampaolo Pazzini in the area and Eto'o stroked home the penalty to take his season's tally to 27 goals in all competitions.

And Inter Milan increased their lead even further when Motta headed home from close range.

However, Roma fought back and Mirko Vucinic pulled one back when diverting home Daniele De Rossi's free-kick and they reduced the deficit to 4-3 when Simone Loria prodded home from close range after Juan's header struck the post.

But there was to be no dramatic comeback and Inter secured their victory through Cambiasso's late goal.

Milan dropped two points after behind held to a 1-1 draw at Genoa, despite Pato giving them a 29th minute lead from close range.

However, Antonio Floro Flores levelled on the stroke of half time when he was on hand to fire home after Mathieu Flamini deflected the ball into his path.

Napoli are now just two points behind Milan in second place after bouncing back from their shock midweek defeat at Chievo to beat Cesena 2-0.

Serie A top scorer Edinson Cavani opened the scoring with his 18th league goal of the season and Jose Sosa added a second in injury time for the home side.