Napoli secure Supercoppa final after moving past Fiorentina

 

Napoli have booked a ticket for the Supercoppa Italiana Final after beating Fiorentina 3-0.

The Serie A champions emerged winners with Giovanni Simeone and a late Alessio Zerbin brace, as Jonathan Ikone’s missed penalty proved costly.

They are now prepared to play either Inter or Lazio for the trophy on Monday evening.

After the Serie A governing body came up with a new format, this was the opening semi-final that included the runners-up for the Scudetto and Coppa Italia, all played at the Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh. 

 Walter Mazzarri revamped his side to a 3-4-3 formation for the first time, and they got the job done.

Simeone, who deputized for Victor Osimhen, who is currently at the African Cup of Nations, had to make a defensive block to stop Ikone from scoring on a quickly-taken free kick.

Pietro Terracciano was also called into action as he fingertipped a trademark Matteo Politano curler over the bar from the edge of the box while Cristiano Biraghi’s volley flashed wide.

 Napoli took the lead with a well-worked attacking move that began with Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, who held off Nikola Milenkovic to flick on the ball for a Juan Jesus run down the left. He released the cross-field pass that found Simeone at the back post to score with an angled drive.

Fiorentina thought they had levelled matters on 28 minutes. But the goal was chalked off because Giacomo Bonaventura wandered into an offside position on the corner, knocking it down for Lucas Beltran to tap in. 

After Lucas Martinez-Quarta’s header bounced off the upright, Bonaventura blasted off target from a distance.

Fiorentina were awarded a penalty. Jonathan Ikone, who earned the spot kick when trying to squirm between Mario Rui and Kvaratskhelia, ballooned it over the bar.

Fiorentina continued to press for the equalizer after the restart as Pierluigi Gollini smothered a Beltran effort and Arthur Melo blasted over from outside the box. The M’Bala Nzola pull-back from the by-line caused problems, but Napoli survived.

They continued to push as Bonaventura’s volley was charged down, and Alfred Duncan fired wide.

Napoli will have another headache to deal with in the treatment room after Jens Cajuste and Pasquale Mazzocchi went off with muscular issues.

Napoli eventually got the second via a corner flicked on, and substitute Zerbin, at full stretch, tapped in at the back post. He couldn’t celebrate after bundling the ball into the net, hitting his head on the upright.

Zerbin, who went off for treatment, would later make it three to secure the final ticket for Pertonopei. He immediately robbed Alfred Duncan and ran forward to beat Gollini with a right-foot-angled drive into the far bottom corner.

Written by Oladipupo Mojeed