Nothing like a change of scenery to get back on track. Napoli’s defeats against Benfica (0-2), in the league stage of the UEFA Champions League, and Udinese (0-1) in the 15th round of Serie A increased the pressure on the defending Italian champions, who responded in kind against Milan (2-0), in Saudi Arabia.
Rafael Leão, suffering from an injury to his right adductor, was absent for Milan in a duel counting for the semi-finals of the Italian Super Cup, painted in shades of blue. The Rossoneri even started with a slight offensive upswing, but Milinkovic-Savic denied a treacherous shot from Loftus-Cheek in the 5th minute and rocked Napoli into a solid and effective performance.
Rasmus Hojlund set the pace for the attack for Antonio Conte’s men, who only failed to open the scoring in the 32nd minute, as McTominay shot misdirected, to the relief of Maignan. Milan could have responded lethally, but neither Rabiot nor Nkunku found their way to Milinkovic-Savic’s goal.
The waste of the French forward, who shot over in a situation of numerical superiority in the 37th minute, cost Milan particularly dearly, who conceded a few seconds later. Spinazzola crossed the line with a geometric pass to Hojlund who, already in the penalty area, withstood De Winter’s pressure and found the necessary space to serve the first of the match, created by David Neres.
The former Benfica winger only needed to touch the far post to score his fourth goal of the season and silence the Rossoneri’s reaction. De Winter was having a lot of trouble containing the physical power and tactical intelligence of Hojlund, who became man of the match in the 63rd minute.
Spinazzola, still in his own midfield, once again stood out in the passing section, he explored the space between the Rossoneri lines and found Hojlund in the opponent’s penalty area. The Danish striker on loan from Manchester United to Naples outwitted De Winter and, once again dropped down the left, found space to shoot the ball.
Hojlund had precious help from Mike Maignan, who looked bad in the photo, to extend Napoli’s advantage, which was limited to managing the course of the match in the last half hour of the game. Milan did not have the art or ingenuity to overcome Neapolitan solidity and lost the opportunity to win the Italian Super Cup for the second consecutive season,
Napoli took a firm step towards winning the third Super Cup in the club’s history. The defending champions await an opponent for the final scheduled for Monday. Inter and Bolinha face each other in the other semi-final duel, starting at 7pm on Friday.
