Francesco Totti (right) celebrates his goal against Udinese.

Roma returned to winning ways in the Italian Serie A as first-half goals from Francesco Totti and Mattia Destro enabled the Giallorossi to overcome stubborn Udinese 3-2 at the Olympic Stadium last night.

It was a crucial victory for Rudi Garcia’s men who remained three points ahead of nearest rivals Napoli who earlier yesterday needed a late Gonzalo Higuain goal to grab a 1-0 away win at Torino.

Roma were boosted by the return of their talismanic captain Totti and the 37-year-old made his presence felt on 22 minutes. Gervinho saw his low shot pushed away by Udinese goalkeeper Simone Scuffet but from the rebound Totti unleashed a fierce low drive that rolled into the net.

Buoyed by this goal Roma continued to push forward and they doubled their advantage eight minutes later.

Totti was again involved as he initiated a swift break when his throughball released Gervinho who quickly set up Destro and the young striker beat Scuffet from close in.

Udinese reopened the match five minutes into the second half when Giampiero Pinzi hit a firm drive from the edge of the area that had the better of Roma goalkeeper Morgan De Sanctis.

However, Roma sealed the points with a third goal on 69 minutes. Vasilis Torosidis sprinted forward before hitting a rasping drive that flew into the net.

Ten minutes from time Udinese pulled a goal back when Dusan Basta scored with a fine volley

Napoli survived two shots against the woodwork before Gonzalo Higuain scored a controversial last-gasp goal to give them a 1-0 win at angry Torino.

The Argentine forward got clear of Torino midfielder Kamil Glik and fired his shot past Daniele Padelli in the 90th minute to give Napoli three important points in the race for a Champions League place.

The hosts were furious, claiming that Higuain had tripped Glik but the referee allowed the goal to stand.

Midtable Torino had plenty of chances and Cesare Bovo smashed a 25-metre shot against the post just before the half hour with Pepe Reina well beaten.

Riccardo Meggiorini also hit the post with only Reina to beat after he sprung the offside trap as Torino slumped to their fourth successive defeat without scoring.

Ciro Immobile, dropped from the Torino starting line-up, forced Reina to save with his legs after coming on and then fired over from 12 metres when it seemed easier to score after Jasmin Kurtic dispossessed Valon Behrami and rolled the ball to him.