Italian Cup Final: Napoli Beats Juventus on Penalties

Napoli scored all four penalties, with Lorenzo Insigne, Matteo Politano, Serbian Nemanja Maksimovic, and Polish Arkadiusz Milik. On the other hand, Paulo Dybala and Brazilian Danilo Luiz Da Silva missed for Juventus, crowning Napoli as the champions under coach Gennaro Gattuso.

In the 90 minutes, Napoli had the better opportunities but hit the post with a free-kick from Lorenzo Insigne and Gianluigi Buffon made three valuable saves, the last of which was just seconds before the end.

As it happened in the semifinal against Milan, Juventus started well, moved the ball quickly, and scared Napoli in the 5th minute with a shot from Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo saved by goalie Alex Meret. However, that shot ended up being the most dangerous of the entire match for Maurizio Sarri's men.

Insigne, one of the most in-form players of Gattuso's team, hit the woodwork in the 23rd minute with a great free-kick from 25 meters out, and only two great saves from Buffon, who started at 42 years old, kept the match level at halftime, saving shots from Belgian Dries Mertens and Insigne himself.

The effort made in the semifinals, played on Friday and Saturday after three months of inactivity, took a toll on both teams and the restart was marked more by errors and lack of brilliance than by technique.

Both Napoli and Juventus tried to change the pace by using their benches, with five substitutions available.

Sarri brought on Federico Bernardeschi, Welshman Aaron Ramsey, and Brazilian Danilo Luiz to replace Brazilian Douglas Costa, Bosnian Miralem Pjanic, and Colombian Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, while Gattuso brought on Matteo Politano and Polish Arkadiusz Milik for Spanish Jose Callejon and Polish Arkadiusz Milik.

Juventus didn't create any danger to Meret's goal, and only Buffon, with great saves on a header from Serbian Nemanja Maksimovic and the following low shot from Macedonian Eljf Elmas, prevented Napoli from winning in the 93rd minute.

The title was decided on penalties, where Napoli was flawless against a lackluster Juventus.

Argentine Paulo Dybala took the first penalty and it was saved by Meret. His teammate Danilo shot over the crossbar. Insigne and Politano didn't miss and gave Napoli a 2-0 advantage.

Captain Leonardo Bonucci and Aaron Ramsey scored for Juventus, but Napoli didn't tremble and, after Maksimovic's goal, secured victory with Milik's perfect execution (4-2).

This is Napoli's sixth Italian Cup in their history and the first trophy in Gattuso's career as a coach, who was embraced by all his players at the end of the match.

On the other hand, it was a deep disappointment for Juventus in a season where they already lost the Italian Super Cup in January against Lazio and where they continue to play without brilliance and conviction.

- Line-up:

0 (4). Napoli: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Maksimovic, Koulibaly, Mario Rui (Hysaj, m.81); Fabian (Allan, m.80), Demme, Zielinski (Elmas, m.88); Insigne, Mertens (Milik, m.67), Callejon (Politano, m.66).

0 (2). Juventus: Buffon; Cuadrado (Danilo, m.66), Bonucci, De Ligt, Alex Sandro; Bentancur, Pjanic (Bernardeschi, m.72), Matuidi; Dybala, Douglas Costa, Cristiano.

Penalties: 0-0: Dybala and saved by Meret; 1-0: Insigne; 1-0: Danilo shoots over the crossbar; 2-0: Politano; 1-2: Bonucci; 1-3: Maksimovic; 2-3: Ramsey; 2-4: Milik.

Referee: Daniele Doveri (ITA). Showed yellow cards to Mario Rui (m.77) from Napoli and Bonucci (m.51) and Dybala (m.83) from Juventus.

Incidents: Italian Cup final played at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, behind closed doors.