Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani netted a hat trick Sunday as Napoli rallied twice to beat Lazio 4-3 before a capacity crowd of 60,000 and catapult into second place in the Serie A standings.

Stefano Mauri and Andre Dias had given Lazio a 2-0 lead before the home side tied the match with Andrea Dossena and Cavani.

Salvatore Aronica’s own goal gave Lazio a temporarily 3-2 lead, but Cavani scored twice — his third strike with just two minutes left to play — to complete the comeback.

The win put Napoli just three points behind league leaders AC Milan, who won the derby Saturday with a 3-0 win over Inter Milan at the San Siro Stadium.

AC Milan has 65 points with third-place Inter stuck at 60 with seven games left to play.

“There’s disappointment, of course, as there is with any defeat,” Inter coach Leonardo told the Italian daily La Gazzetta dello Sport.

The victory lifted Napoli to 62 points as the club seeks its first Italian league title since the legendary Diego Maradona led the team to the 1990 title.

In the 1990 title race, Napoli ultimately prevailed over AC Milan, finishing ahead of them on the last day of the season by two points following a 1-0 home win over Lazio.

Napoli has had its ups and downs since winning that title 21 years ago. The club was relegated to the second division and ultimately fell into the third division after filing for bankruptcy. Napoli was promoted back into Serie A in May 2007.

Cavani is coming off a great year. He was a star for Uruguay at the 2010 World Cup, leading his country to a fourth-place finish. He played for Italian club Palermo last season and is in his first year at Napoli.

“We try to win every game and to do our best and the points will be counted up at the end of the season,” Cavani told Sky Italia. “That’s the right way to behave.”