After two consecutive losses, one in the league and one in the Super Cup, Napoli returned tonight (Thursday) to the winning track with a 2: 4 home win over Spezia in the Italian Cup quarter-finals. Gennaro Gattuso’s side scored all their goals in the first half, taking a foot off the pedal in the second. The trophy holder will meet Atlanta in the semi-finals, when in the additional meeting Inter and Juventus will face each other.
It started well for Naples. Already in the fifth minute Kalido Coulibaly raised the hosts to 0: 1 with a wonderful goal with the heel. Hirving Lucano doubled the lead in the 20th minute with a powerful one-touch kick between the posts. 0: 2 to Napoli. Ten minutes later, it was already 0: 3 for Gattuso’s gang. Piotr Zilinski found Matteo Politano who finished excellently. Another ten minutes passed, and another goal for the Blues. Lorenzo Insigne found Alif Elmas inside the extension, the latter finishing with a great chip. A huge 0: 4 to Napoli already after 40 minutes.
The second half opened with four substitutions – three from Spezia and one from Napoli when Driss Martens replaced Lucano, and the changes on the pitch seemed to have affected both teams. Gattuso’s side came up too relaxed for the second half and conceded a pair of quick goals from Emanuel Giasi (70) and Gennaro Acampura (73). The team from southern Italy was not pressured and maintained the result until the end of the match. 2: 4 to Naples.
