Il Napoli is the first finalist of the Italian Super Cup having beaten the Fiorentina at Al Awwal Park in Riyadh. Advantage with the ex’s goal Simeone with a winning diagonal in the 22nd minute for the second success in a row Mazzarri who, for the occasion, dusted off the beloved three-man defense. Once ahead in the score the Azzurri closed down leaving the Fiorentina the ball of the game, but few opportunities; the largest was kicked sky high penalty from Ikoné. In the end he went wild Zerbin with a brace between the 84th and 86th minutes.
THE MATCH
Don’t fool the score, the Napoli he didn’t mess with it Fiorentina – On the contrary. Riad’s 3-0 is the result of situations but on balance, and that’s what counts, it rewards Mazzarri’s choices. In the semi-final of the Italian Super Cup the coach returned to the three-man defence, but above all he dusted off a conservative attitude that hadn’t been stitched onto that shirt for some time. A compact defense with the center of gravity at the edge of its own area which proved to be the winning move to take away the air from Fiorentina’s quality, even more so once they found the advantage with a restart invented by Kvaratskhelia and finished by Juan Jesus to Simeone up to the most classic of exes’ goals.
If he Napoli he sacrificed himself beyond all imagination to defend the result and win the final by any means possible, Fiorentina showed off all their offensive limits when there was little or no space available, confirming the period of fogging already observed in the championship in the matches against Sassuolo and Udinese (one point). While constantly maintaining control of the game and without exposing themselves to further restarts by Napoli, however Gollini it was a quiet evening also because in the only two real chances created it was first the post and then Ikoné who worked for the goalkeeper. In the 28th minute Martinez Quarta hit the woodwork with Beltran’s equalizer disallowed for offside, then in the 44th minute Ikoné kicked the penalty badly which he had achieved by sending it over the crossbar.
In the second half the script was single and monotonous until the five minutes of final madness. The Napoli he lined up with a five-man defense in line to take away width from Fiorentina’s game who, in response also with the inclusion of the double center forward, did nothing but slip into spaces and lanes clogged with blue shirts. Six minutes from the end, it finally began Zerbin-show even in a somewhat casual way. The Napoli winger was sent onto the pitch by Mazzarri due to Mazzocchi’s cramps, but it proved to be the classic key to double-locking the door on qualification. At 84′ Zerbin he was ready to collect Di Lorenzo’s spark at the far post to make it 2-0 by freeing himself from Parisi but hitting the pole; once the scare of his teammates and medical staff had passed, Zerbin himself, as soon as he returned to the pitch, flew towards Terracciano for the diagonal of the 3-0, thus finding both the first goal in blue and, consequently, the first double (the fastest in the history of the competition).
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REPORT CARDS
Simeone 7 – The most classic of the ex’s goals with a true centre-forward’s action. The Argentine takes advantage of Juan Jesus’ attacking midfielder with a millimeter-precise diagonal that beats Terracciano. The attitude of the team does little to help him be dangerous.
Kvaratskhelia 6 – New role in a 3-4-3 which led him more often to defensive coverage rather than making himself truly dangerous. However, he also had a hand in playing almost as a “full-back”, with his play in midfield which freed Juan Jesus and started Simeone’s goal.
Cajuste 6.5 – In the traffic studied in the center of the pitch his physicality brought results for Napoli. He found himself in full battle for every ball that went his way without losing duels, especially in the first half. As tiredness emerges he loses tone and clarity.
Zerbin 7,5 – Ten full minutes of an authentic prince of Arabia. He comes on for the injured Mazzocchi, scores the 2-0 goal, risking his own safety and scaring everyone with his header against the post. Then he comes back and makes it 3-0 with his first two goals for Napoli.
Icon 5 – The only flash of the evening leads him to cleverly win the penalty which, paradoxically, sinks him further. The Ivorian shoots skyrocketingly from the spot, confirming his nightmare season, then makes practically every choice wrong.
Bonaventura 6.5 – In front of the wall erected by Mazzarri he tries to turn on the light with his technical quality right from the first half. The gaps are very narrow, he tries as best he can and the assist he gets is canceled out by offside.
Arthur 6,5 – Napoli’s pressure is not frenetic and the Brazilian made his dribbling technique count. He also tries some more vertical movements than usual, creating good conditions for his teammates.
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THE SCORESHEET
NAPLES-FIORENTINA 3-0
Napoli (3-4-2-1): Gollini 6; Di Lorenzo 6.5, Rrahmani 6, Juan Jesus 6; Mazzocchi 5.5 (36′ st Zerbin 7.5), Cajuste 6.5 (32′ st Gaetano 6), Lobotka 6, Mario Rui 5.5 (27′ st Ostigard 6); Politano 6 (27′ st Zielinski 6), Kvaratskhelia 6 (27′ st Lindstrom 6); Simeone 7. Available: Contini, Idasiak, D’Avino, Raspadori. All.: Mazzarri 6.
Fiorentina (4-2-3-1): Terracciano 5.5; Kayode 5.5, Milenkovic 5.5, Quarta 5 (43′ st Barak sv), Biraghi 5.5 (23′ st Parisi 5); Arthur 6.5, Duncan 5; Ikoné 5 (12′ st Nzola 5), Bonaventura 6.5 (43′ st Faraoni sv), Brekalo 5 (12′ st Sottil 5.5); Beltran 5. Available: Martinelli, Christensen, Ranieri, Faraoni, Mina, Lopez, Infantino, Comuzzo, Mandragora, Barak, Amatucci, Gonzalez. All.: Italian 5.
Referee: The pen
Markers: 22′ Simeone, 39′ st Zerbin, 41′ st Zerbin
Warned: Biraghi (F)
Expelled: Nobody
Note: in the 44th minute Ikoné (F) kicked a penalty high
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OPTA STATISTICS
Napoli will play their fifth Italian Super Cup final (the second with Mazzari on the bench, after 2012) and will face an opponent other than Juventus for the first time. After the success in 1996, Fiorentina lost the next two matches played in the Italian Super Cup without scoring. Vincenzo Italiano’s Fiorentina were eliminated in a knockout match before the final for the first time since April 2022, in the semi-final of the Italian Cup against Juventus. For the first time Napoli finished a match without conceding a goal in the Italian Super Cup. Alessio Zerbin is the first player to score a brace in the Italian Super Cup as a substitute. There are four different Napoli players who have scored multiple goals in just five matches played by the Neapolitans in the Italian Super Cup (Silenzi and Careca in 1990, Higuaín in 2014 and Zerbin in the current edition). Giovanni Simeone is the second Argentine player to score in an Italian Super Cup match with Napoli, after Gonzalo Higuaín (a brace in 2014 against Juventus). Giovanni Simeone’s goal is the fourth goal scored by Napoli in the first half hour of play in the Italian Super Cup, after the goals by Andrea Silenzi and Careca in 1990 (against Juventus) and that of Edinson Cavani in 2012 (again against Juventus). Juan Jesus served an assist in an official match for the first time since February 16, 2017, against Villarreal wearing the Roma shirt in the Europa League. Fiorentina have missed two of the last three penalties taken (Ikoné vs Napoli and Bonaventura vs Sassuolo), after 12 consecutive penalties converted in all competitions. Jonathan Ikoné is the second player in the last 16 editions of the Italian Super Cup to miss a penalty, after Lorenzo Insigne, with Napoli against Juventus in 2021 (excluding penalty lotteries).
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