By L A Adithya
In a much-anticipated encounter, Napoli beat defending champions of the Italian Super Cup AC Milan, 2-0 in the semifinal of the competition at the King Saud University Stadium in the capital city of Riyadh on Thursday to make it to the final, furthering their recent impressive run of form. This comes after the Gli Azzurri suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat in the league at the hands of Udinese on Sunday.
Despite the game hardly being a one-sided affair, the defending Serie A title holders put in a shift to clinch their spot in the final of the Italian Super Cup by finding the back of the net on two occasions through David Neres and Rasmus Hojlund. Both teams slowly found their rhythm in the game, while the stats showed an evenly contested contest.
As the game began to gain some fluidity, in the 39th minute, Neres was squared up for a tap-in at the back post after having the ball diverted to him by AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan from a swift pass across the 6-yard box from the left flank by Hojlund. Former Manchester United midfielder Scott Mctominay came close to finding the back of the net, but not close enough to prove decisive.
Hojlund, then, sealed the game in the 64th minute with a perfect ‘striker’s’ finish from the left after turning the AC Milan defender from a precisely threaded pass from Spinazzola to fire one past Maignan into the far corner despite the angle being against him, doubling the lead. The Dane ended the game with an impressive performance, securing a goal and an assist in his name.
Bologna and Inter Milan now battle it out in the second semifinal on Friday to book a spot in the final to face Napoli in the final of the Supercoppa Italiana.