Napoli – Inter: Gattuso’s Side Hold Onto Draw To Reach Coppa Italia Final (1-1)

Inter started brightly, got the vital opening goal within two minutes and pressed Napoli deep in their own half. Generally, Inter dominated the ball and were faced with the task of breaking down Napoli’s solid 4-5-1 shape. They had some interesting mechanisms up their sleeve but were unable to make it count. Napoli’s equalizer just before half-time from Dries Mertens proved to be the decisive goal in sending them through to the Coppa Italia final. 
Tactical analysis and match report by Josh Manley.

The return of Italian football begins with the second legs of the Coppa Italia semi-finals, no less than four months after the first legs were played. The first leg of this tie saw Napoli take a 1-0 win from Inter with a strong defensive display. 

Napoli were missing Kostas Manolas at center-back, meaning that Nikola Maksimović was called upon to start alongside Kalidou Koulibaly. The midfield three in Gennaro Gattuso’s 4-3-3 shape were Diego Demme, Elif Elmas and Piotr Zieliński. Ahead of them was a forward trio of Matteo Politano, Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne. 

Antonio Conte’s Inter meanwhile started in a 3-4-1-2 system. Alessandro Bastoni completed the back three alongside Stefan de Vrij and Milan Škriniar as Diego Godín missed out through injury. Antonio Candreva and Ashley Young were the wing-backs, while Nicolò Barella and Marcelo Brozović supported Christian Eriksen in midfield. Up front was the dangerous duo of Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro . . .