SuperCoppa Italiana: Inter and Napoli Cruise to the Final

Napoli vs Inter Milan

Scudetto leaders Inter Milan will take on 2023 champions Napoli in Monday’s SuperCoppa Italiana final at the Al-Awwal Park in Saudi Arabia. 

Simone Inzaghi’s Inter are the favourites for the trophy but both teams breezed through to the final and Walter Mazzarri’s Napoli will be determined to ignite their campaign with a piece of shiny silverware.

The tournament is being held in Saudi Arabia and, much like the Spanish Super Cup, four teams were invited, the winners and runners up of last season’s Serie A and Coppa Italia titles. And it is the champions of each who will face off on Monday after Napoli saw off Fiorentina and Inter Milan swept Lazio aside in the semis.        

There is plenty of intrigue and drama promised in the 2023-24 Serie A season, but for this weekend Napoli and Inter fans can look forward to a cup battle in the Saudi sunshine.   

Talking Points

Calhanoglu doubtful

League leaders Inter Milan took on last season’s Serie A runners-up Lazio on Friday, and they won at a canter as Marcus Thuram, Davide Frattesi, and Hakan Calhanoglu all breached the Lazio defence in a 3-0 victory.

But the worrying SuperCoppa Italiana 2024 news coming out of the Inter camp is that the influential Calhanoglu picked up a muscle injury, which may keep him out of the final.

After slotting home the 50th minute penalty, the Turkish star played on until he was replaced after 81 minutes, but he looked uncomfortable as he left the pitch.

Calhanoglu felt some discomfort and was taken off as a precaution, but Inzaghi will not want to risk his attacking midfielder with a vital run of Serie A fixtures to come.

The 29-year-old is one of the first names on the Inter Milan team sheet, and he has had a superb first half of the campaign, scoring 11 goals making three assists.

The SuperCoppa Italiana 2024 betting odds make I Nerazzurri the clear favourites for this match, but the loss of Calhanoglu won’t help Inzaghi’s cause, and the Inter boss will have to weigh up the glint of silverware against the bigger prize of the Scudetto. 

Zerbin takes his chance

Equally, the Partenopei were impressive as they defeated a strong Fiorentina side by the same 3-0 margin, with goals from Giovanni Simeone and a brace from stand-in forward Alessio Zerbin.

La Viola are riding high in fourth place, three points and four places ahead of Napoli in the Serie A table, but they had no answer to Zerbin’s dynamic display as the 24 year old was quick to tap in a flick on from a corner, though he took a smack on the head from the upright as he slid the ball home.

Zerbin went off for treatment, but he was back in action immediately on his return, picking the pocket of a defender before firing a right-footed shot past the Lazio keeper and into the bottom corner of the net. In the absence of Victor Osimhen, away at AFCON with Nigeria, the Partenopei is looking for other players to stand up in front of goal, and Zerbin did just that, and he deserves a start in the final on Monday.

There were big performances too from the skipper Giovanni Di Lorenzo, who assisted Zerbin’s first goal, and midfield general Stansilav Lobotka, who was back to his best, covering every blade of grass and using his passing range to help Napoli control the play.

History

These two Italian heavyweights have had some epic encounters over the years with I Nerazzurri edging the head to heads over the past three decades, with 22 wins to Napoli’s 17 while there have been 12 draws. They last met in December when Inter plundered a 3-0 Serie A win in Naples with goals from Calhanoglu, Thuram and Nicola Barella. 

They are both past SuperCoppa winners, Napoli in the Diego Maradona heyday of 1990 and again in 2014, while Inter have won the prize seven times, last in 2022.     

Inter have been in better form over the festive period and come into the game with four wins, one draw and one defeat from the last six games, while Napoli have won two, drawn one and lost three. But I Partenopei are in good spirits having picked up a league win over Salernitana last week before thumping Fiorentina on Thursday.   

Betting Tip

At SBOTOP odds of 1.63 the Milan giants are clear favourites to win this game with Napoli priced at 4.38, but I suspect it will be a closer game than that in the heat of Saudi.    There have been three goals or more in each of the last three games for both Inter and Napoli. I doubt this game will be hampered by the shackles of the high pressure Serie A and, for a Correct Score-line, 2-1 to Inter at odds of 7.33 could be a close call.

 

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