Roma revived as Totti reaches milestone

(CNN) -- Is the balance in Italian football shifting south? After a week in which Roma collected three wins, including a stunning victory at Real Madrid in the Champions League, the signs are that the capital's principal club could be in the ascendancy.

In itself, the giallorossi's 2-0 win over Napoli was noteworthy more for Francesco Totti capping his 500th match in all competitions for the club with the second goal of the game from the penalty spot.

It was the iconic 31-year-old's second landmark achievement of the season, having struck his 200th Serie A goal earlier in the campaign.

But the fact Napoli had inflicted Serie A leaders Inter Milan's first league defeat of the season the previous weekend leant weight to the argument that it is now Roma who are the form side in Italy, having cut Inter's advantage from 11 to six points in the space of a few weeks since a defeat to Juventus seemed to mark the end of their challenge.

"We've given a powerful statement because last week Napoli were stratospheric," said Totti.

And with Inter crashing out of the Champions League against Liverpool in Tuesday with a 1-0 defeat at home to Liverpool -- a third defeat in five games which prompted coach Roberto Mancini to announce he will step down at the end of the season -- suddenly it seems as if the nerazzurri are there for the taking.

Following AC Milan's similarly humiliating exit at the hands of Arsenal, Luciano Spalletti's men are now also the sole side carrying the tricolor for Italy in European football's premier competition.

The key to Roma's resurgence since the start of the year has been the resilience of its defense -- built around the Franco-Brazilian central partnership of Philippe Mexes and Juan -- which has conceded just three goals so far in Serie A in 2008.

"There is no better defensive pairing," Totti said after the two were outstanding in both legs of the 4-2 aggregate win over Real Madrid. "I'm happy to have them in my team because it would be very difficult for me to face them."

Roma's advance to the last eight also gives them an opportunity to exorcize memories of their humiliating 7-1 defeat by Manchester United at the same stage last season, although with four English teams left -- including United -- Spalletti will be keen to avoid Premier League opposition in Friday's draw.

Back at home, having managed just one Italian title in 2001 in 15 years at Roma, and finished a runner-up four times since then, Totti is under no illusions that a second title for the club this century remains anything more tangible than a distant dream.

Having failed to beat Inter in a 1-1 draw at the San Siro last month, following a 4-1 defeat at the Olympic Stadium earlier in the season, Roma must hope that other teams can inflict enough damage on the defending champions to give them a chance to close the gap.

"The championship is Inter's to lose because we can't do any more than we are doing," said Totti after the win over Napoli, perhaps hoping to raise the pressure on Mancini's players. "If they make any mistakes we need to capitalise. Six points with 11 matches to play, there's still a long way to go."

For Roma meanwhile, a couple of key Serie A matches loom. On Saturday Spalletti's side host AC Milan in Rome before, in midweek, taking on archrivals Lazio in the second derby clash of the season. Six points from those two games would constitute definite proof of a Roman revival.

"The title has not been assigned and our Serie A season isn't over," Spalletti says. "The players proved they still believe in the Scudetto. We will watch Inter carefully and try to take advantage of every chance they give us." E-mail to a friend