It’s been four months since Napoli beat Inter Milan 1-0 at the San Siro to take a valuable away goal back to the San Paolo. But the return leg in Naples was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fast forward to mid-summer and both sides gear up for an absolute classic on Saturday. The winner will play Serie A champions and current league leaders Juventus in the final in Rome on Wednesday, June 17.
Coppa Italia Preview: Napoli v Inter Milan
Who Will Make the Difference?
Napoli are without starting centre-back Kostas Manolas, who picked up an injury in training. Therefore, Kalidou Koulibaly will be vital if Napoli want to keep the Nerazzurri at bay. Serie A’s best defender from last season has caught the attention of many with his performances in recent seasons and he’ll need to be on his game if he wants to halt Inter’s formidable strike partnership of Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez.
The duo have 39 goals between them in all competitions this season and manager Antonio Conte will be counting on them to overturn the deficit. The key battle will be in midfield, where both sides will try to dominate in order to control the game. Inter will be missing a key component of their engine room with Matias Vecino is unavailable. Fabian Ruiz is the home side’s technician in midfield and will look to link up with the likes of Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne.
Inter have a host of players to pick from in midfield. Marcelo Brozovic and Nicolò Barella are all but guaranteed to start considering how good they’ve been this season but, with Inter needing to chase the game, Christian Eriksen will be a good candidate to join the midfield pairing.
If Inter want to beat Gennaro Gattuso’s men they’ll need to get hold of the midfield and shut down any attempt from Fabian Ruiz to pick his passes. Napoli will need to be strong in defence and frustrate Conte’s men by slowing play down and being hard to beat as they’ve done to Liverpool. Brazilian midfielder Allan could be the perfect candidate to start as his robust style will frustrate inter. These battles can decide the match which is why it’s so tough to call.
Predicted Line-Ups
Napoli: Ospina, Di Lorenzo, Maksimovic, Koulibaly, Rui, Allan, Lobotka, Ruiz, Callejon, Mertens, Insigne.
Inter: Handanovic, Skriniar, Bastoni, De Vrij, Candreva, Brozovic, Barella, Eriksen, Young, Martinez, Lukaku.
Prediction
Napoli 1-1 Inter
Despite Inter already beating Napoli at the Sao Paolo this year, it’s still an extremely tough place to go. Add in the factor of the away goal Napoli have, and it’s unlikely Inter will be overturning this one, seeing Napoli go through on aggregate.
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