Napoli-Milan, the Italian Super Cup semi-final held at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), ended a few minutes ago. Let’s take a look at how the second 45 minutes unfolded between Antonio Conte’s Napoli and Massimiliano Allegri’s Milan.
After the first half ended 1-0 in favor of Napoli thanks to David Neres’ goal (39’), the second half started with a slightly more proactive Milan, searching for an equalizer, but the first real chance came from the Azzurri. In the 54th minute, after a backward pass from Scott McTominay, Amir Rrahmani struck with his foot from just inside Milan’s penalty area. Mike Maignan sent the ball over the crossbar.
Maignan risked a lot with a handball on Matteo Politano in the Milan area, but the VAR did not challenge referee Luca Zufferli of the Udine A.I.A. Section, who allowed play to continue. After fifteen minutes of fragmented play due to many fouls and little movement, Napoli suddenly accelerated in the 63rd minute and doubled their lead. A deep pass found Rasmus Højlund, who ran close to the offside line, once again beating the slow Koni De Winter in a physical duel, and then fired a diagonal into the far corner past Maignan.
Milan tried to react with a header from Fikayo Tomori in the 65th minute, but it lacked threat. Allegri then made substitutions: in the 69th minute, Alexis Saelemaekers and De Winter were replaced by Fofana and Zachary Athekame. It was Fofana, in the 70th minute, who headed from the heart of Napoli’s penalty area, forcing Vanja Milinković-Savić into an easy first save of his second half.
Højlund, in the 73rd minute, tried to double his tally with another diagonal, but the ball went wide, with Maignan still in control. In the 75th minute, Allegri withdrew a quiet Ardon Jashari and sent Luka Modrić onto the field. Napoli tried to break Milan’s comeback hopes with their own substitutions: in the 78th minute, Eljif Elmas and Politano were replaced by Noa Lang and Pasquale Mazzocchi. Then, in the 82nd minute, Leonardo Spinazzola and Højlund were replaced by Miguel Gutiérrez and Lorenzo Lucca.
Milan grew tense, Tomori and McTominay clashed and each received a yellow card (83’), with Zufferli immediately calming the situation. Instead of mounting a Milan attack, Napoli attempted to extend their lead in the 87th minute, but McTominay squandered a well-organized counterattack, blasting the ball into the stands from a great position. In the 88th minute, Neres was replaced by Antonio Vergara.
Christian Pulisic and Pervis Estupiñán tried to bring Milan back into the game at the start of the 7 minutes of added time, but nothing else happened. Napoli-Milan ended 2-0 at full time: there is nothing to say, the second half was worse than the first for Milan, with virtually no noteworthy actions and a deserved defeat. The Rossoneri return home without the chance to defend the Italian Super Cup they won last January.
