Cavani hat-trick sparks Napoli

There could have a 100th strike too, but after completing his treble Cavani missed a penalty.

He scored after 18 minutes with a deflected effort to make the breakthrough, after 30 minutes to put Napoli firmly in charge, and after 63 minutes with a solo effort.

Looking to complete his century of goals in the 76th minute, he rapped his penalty over the Lazio bar.

Victory moved Napoli level with Juventus at the top of the table, with both sides having 13 points from five games and identical goals scored and goals conceded records.

AC Milan eased the pressure on head coach Massimiliano Allegri as Stephan El Shaarawy scored both in a 2-0 home win over Cagliari.

El Shaarawy's 15th-minute opener was the Rossoneri's first goal at the San Siro this season and his classy second strike eight minutes from the end sealed a first victory in front of the home faithful.

Cagliari had Daniele Conti sent off after 66 minutes.

Inter Milan was a comfortable 2-0 winner at Chievo, Alvaro Pereira putting it ahead after 43 minutes and Antonio Cassano, who replaced Wesley Sneijder midway through the first half, adding the second in the 74th minute.

Roma was held 1-1 at home by Sampdoria, which equalised after going down to 10 men.

Francesco Totti opened the scoring after 34 minutes and Roma's hand looked to have been strengthened when Enzo Maresca was dismissed for a second yellow card offence a minute into the second half.

But Sampdoria defied expectations by drawing level after 62 minutes when Gianni Munari punished an error from goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.

Stefano Colantuono found little to celebrate on the occasion of his 400th match as a coach as his Atalanta team slid to a 2-1 defeat at Catania.

Nicolas Spolli and Gonzalo Bergessio were on target for Catania in the 52nd and 65th minutes after Atalanta had edged ahead through Maximiliano Moralez after 49 minutes.

Michele Ferri almost grabbed a late equaliser, but it was not Atalanta, or Colantuono's, night.

Marco Borriello cracked home an 88th-minute penalty to give Genoa a 1-1 draw at home against Parma, which had led since Alessandro Lucarelli netted in the 27th minute.

A wonder goal from Vladimir Weiss earned promoted Pescara its first Serie A victory in almost two decades, at the expense of struggling Palermo.

Palermo shrugged off the disappointment of two disallowed Abel Hernandez goals and the setback of defender Steve Von Bergen's red card to dominate its host for the majority of the game.

But Pescara kept chipping away at Gian Piero Gasperini's tiring side, and Weiss' thunderbolt in the 86th minute condemned the Palermo boss to a second consecutive straight defeat since he replaced Giuseppe Sannino last week.

Torino and Udinese drew 0-0 in the night's other match.