Napoli reached the Coppa Italia final with a 1-1 draw at home to Inter Milan on Saturday as forward Dries Mertens became the club’s all-time record scorer.
Dries Mertens became Napoli’s all-time top scorer after netting an equaliser during the second leg of his side’s Italian Cup semi-final with Inter Milan.
Belgium forward Mertens slotted home his 122nd goal for Napoli four minutes before half-time to level the scores at 1-1 at the Stadio San Paolo and put them 2-1 ahead on aggregate.
Mertens, 33, overtakes Marek Hamsik and moves seven clear of Diego Maradona, who scored 115 goals in all competitions over his seven tumultuous years in southern Italy.
Mertens moved to Napoli from PSV Eindhoven in 2013 and has become so settled in Naples that fans have nicknamed him ‘Ciro’, a hugely common Neapolitan name.
Inter went ahead after two minutes of the semi-final second leg when Christian Eriksen scored direct from a corner, badly misjudged by goalkeeper David Ospina, but Mertens levelled before halftime with his 122nd goal for the club in all competitions.
Both teams were playing their first game since the end of the three-month stoppage for the coronavirus and the pace dropped considerably in the last 20 minutes despite both teams making the permitted five substitutions.
Napoli went through 2-1 on aggregate thanks to their 1-0 win at San Siro four months ago and set a date with Juventus in Wednesday’s final in Rome.
Zealadmol.sport.blog. 