Napoli will go into coppa Italian cup final on Wednesday with the hope of having another one over the Italian league leaders, Juventus. Napoli got the better of the Turin side, when they last met in a coppa final, 9 years ago.
A win this time around will be more memorable, given the fact that Juventus then was just building a dynasty. Now they have become the best club in Italy having won the last eight Seria A title in succession. Juve have also won the Coppa Italia for four consecutive seasons until the last campaign, when they were eliminated by eventual runners-up Atalanta in the quarterfinals.
The match pits Juve boss Maurizio Sarri against his former club as he goes in search of his first trophy in Italian football. Meanwhile, for Napoli’s new coach, Gennaro Gattuso, it will be a second Coppa Italia final appearance in three years. However, he will be hoping to forget his first experience, as his AC Milan side were hammered 4-0 by Juve in 2018.
In terms of importance, for Juventus, it’s bottom of their priority list behind the Champions League and Serie A. While Lazio fans held street parties in Rome after they beat Atalanta in 2019, there was no open-top bus, but the trophy was paraded in front of their fans before the next league game against Bologna.
Despite that, Juve should still be favourites, but in 2012, they won Serie A unbeaten in Antonio Conte’s first campaign in charge and lost the Coppa final to Napoli. Neither Juve nor Napoli looked particularly impressive in their returns to action, with both sides wrapping up their semifinal wins on away goals. Both Serie A encounter between the two sides were tight, with the home side winning by a single goal in each instance (Juve 4-3 Napoli in August, Napoli 2-1 Juve in January).
For Napoli, who will most probably be without Hirving Lozano, cup victory over this present, all-conquering Juventus side would mean a lot more, to the manager, who is still mourning the death of his sister, club, supporters and everyone associated with Napoli.
Zealadmol.sport.blog. 