Napoli see off Fiorentina to reach Italian Super Cup Final
Giovanni Simeone opened the scoring in the 22nd minute at a sparsely-populated Al-Awwal Park before Alessio Zerbin ensured Napoli's passage with two late goals, his first for the Italian champions. Napoli will face the winner of Friday's other semi-final, between Inter Milan and Lazio, in the final at the same stadium on Monday night.
Thursday's success was a rare bright moment in what has been a disastrous season for Napoli, who are 20 points behind Serie A leaders Inter Milan and have won just five times since Walter Mazzarri replaced Rudi Garcia in November. "I don't know if this is a turning point," said Simeone to Mediaset. "What really matters is the attitude we showed today. We're a team with heart and soul."
Fiorentina had plenty of the ball but struggled to break down Napoli, and Jonathan Ikone's missed penalty just before half-time summed up a bad night for Vincenzo Italiano's team. "When you lose 3-0 you can only tip your hat to the winners," said Italiano. "Unfortunately we've started getting a bit sterile again... but until the 84th minute we were in the running and I thought we could get back in it."
This season is the first time that the Italian Super Cup has been contested with a four-team format, but it doesn't appear to have captured the imagination of the Saudi Arabia public. The stadium was mostly empty for a match featuring the ailing champions, who took the lead when Simeone netted the first chance his team created in a rare start, with Victor Osimhen at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Fiorentina should have levelled when Ikone went down easily under a challenge from Mario Rui, but the French forward ballooned his spot-kick over the bar. And after easily keeping Fiorentina at bay Napoli doubled their lead in
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