Luciano Spalletti returns to his old patch on Sunday night when his rampaging Napoli team take on Roma, where he is the central figure in one of Italian football’s most enduring love-hate relationships.

Two points ahead of Atalanta at the top of Serie A, in the Champions League knockouts with two games to spare and unbeaten in all competitions, Napoli travel to Rome dreaming of ending a title drought which stretches back to the days of Diego Maradona.

Spalletti has his unbeaten team on a 10-match winning streak over domestic and European competitions and playing the kind of free-wheeling football which recalls his thrilling and revolutionary Roma team from the early years of this century.

Francesco Totti was in his pomp and the capital club waltzed over the ashes of the ‘Calciopoli’ match-fixing scandal to claim two Italian Cups and almost win the Scudetto against all-conquering Inter Milan.

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