17 June 2020
It was not Juventus’ night in Rome as Napoli walked away with the Coppa Italia trophy at Stadio Olimpico after a goalless 90 minutes saw the Partenopei win 4-2 via a penalty shoot-out.
GOALLESS FIRST HALF
The first chance of the game fell to Juventus in the fifth minute when Dybala pulled back for Ronaldo, who then fired straight at goal only for it to be saved by Meret. The game was lacking a bit of rhythm and Napoli’s first real effort came in the 22nd minute: Insigne fired in a dangerous free-kick at goal that was both Buffon and the poll beat the ball away at the near post. Pjanic fed in a long ball off a set-piece in the 38th minute, only for Alex Sandro to send it out for a goal-kick. Napoli concluded the half by laying on the pressure: Insigne’s effort was nodded off the line by Alex Sandro, before Buffon pulled off two saves in quick succession to deny Demme first and then Insigne, whose curling effort was sailing towards goal.
AND SECOND… SUPERGIGI!
Napoli started the half as they finished it, by shooting at goal, but it sailed wide of the target without troubling Buffon. Dybala had a similar effort fall to him on the opposite end of the field, and he too shot wide from the edge of the D. Danilo was then introduced into the game in the 65th minute in place of Douglas Costa, seeing Cuadrado move further up the field. Dybala filtered in a left-footed cross into the box towards the onrushing Bonucci, only for Meret to pushed it out the way. Pjanic made way for Bernardeschi, while Buffon easily plucked Politano’s header out of danger. Aaron Ramsey was brought on five minutes before the full-time whistle in hope of inspiring a last-gasp winner, but it was Buffon who pulled off a last-minute crucial save to send the game to penalties by his excellent clearance off the line on Maksimovic.
PENALTY SHOOT-OUT
Dybala and Danilo’s efforts failed to go into the back of the net, while Napoli had all four of their efforts beat Buffon in goal through Insigne, Politano, Maksimovic and Milik. The Neopolitans won 4-2 on penalties.
Napoli: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Maksimovic, Koulibaly, Mario Rui; Fabian Ruiz, Demme, Zielinski; Callejon, Mertens, Insigne
Napoli bench: Karnezis, Luperto, Hysaj, Ghoulam, Manolas, Allan, Elmas, Llorente, Lozano, Politano, Younes, Milik
Juventus: Buffon; Cuadrado (Ramsey 85’), De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro; Bentancur, Pjanic (Bernardeschi 74’), Matuidi; Douglas Costa (Danilo 65’), Dybala, Cristiano Ronaldo
Juventus bench: Szczesny, Pinsoglio, De Sciglio, Ramsey, Danilo, Rugani, Rabiot, Bernardeschi, Olivieri, Muratore, Vrioni, Zanimacchia
