Diego Maradona Stadium is the place where Napoli got a visit from Atalanta for the Coppa Italia’s first leg semifinal. We got player ratings.
Diego Maradona Stadium was the place where Napoli got a visit from Atalanta in the first of two Coppa Italia semifinal games. Gennaro Gattuso spared no expense against Gian Piero Gasperini with his most offensive starting eleven on the pitch. The Atalanta manager did the same but we had a highly leveled match with chances on both sides.
With the offensive trio formed by Insigne, Politano, and Lozano; the Naples side still wasn’t able to find the window to score a goal as locals in this first leg. Keep in mind that we are getting the second semifinal match in Bergamo next week. Gian Piero Gasperini knew that getting a goalless draw tonight was a major step towards the Coppa Italia final. In hindsight, Atalanta was slightly superior to Napoli with their defensive solidity.
Atalanta gets the last laugh.
Despite the many efforts from both sides, the game ended with a nil-nil result that leaves Napoli against the ropes for the return leg. Gattuso is aware that defeating Atalanta in Bergamo is arguably amongst the most difficult tasks in Italian football. If this same result stands next week, we are getting extra time and eventually a penalty shootout.
Next in the calendar, Atalanta gets a visit from Torino. Whereas Napoli has to visit Genoa for this weekend’s Serie A activity before the second semifinal match next week. After tonight’s match in Naples, who has better chances to reach the Coppa Italia final?
Player ratings
Napoli: Ospina (7), Manolas (7), Maksimovic (6), Koulibaly (6), Hysaj (7), Di Lorenzo (6), Demme (6), Bakayoko (7), Insigne (7), Politano (6), Lozano (6).
Bench: Petagna (6), Elmas (6), Zielinski (6), Osimhen (5).
Atalanta: Gollini (6), Toloi (7), Djimsiti (7), Gosens (7), Romero (6), Maehle (6), De Roon (6), Freuler (6), Pessina (5), Zapata (5), Muriel (5).
Bench: Ilicic (6), Pasalic (5), Lammers (5).
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