Napoli Are Out of Coppa Italia After Suffering 3-1 Defeat to Atalanta
Napoli have lost the 2nd leg of the Coppa Italia semi-finals against Atalanta, who will now play Juventus in the competition’s final.
Gli Azzurri were unable to shake off the recent slump in form as they succumbed to a 3-1 defeat to Serie A rivals Atalanta. Although enjoying better possession stats, Gennaro Gattuso’s found it difficult to convert this into goal scoring chances.
Napoli began the match in a 4-3-3 formation. Due to a string of injuries, Gattuso found himself needing to improvise. The central defensive duo of Maksimovic and Rrahmani, who had never before played in this formula, were particularly poor throughout the night.
Meanwhile, Gian Piero Gasperini opted for a 3-4-1-2 formation, and also had to make do without some important squad members.
Atalanta opened the scoring in only the 10th minute through Duvan Zapata. In only the 16th minute, the Bergamo side made doubled its advantage through Matteo Pessina.
Napoli scrambled frantically for a goal but was only able to find it in the 53rd minute through agile forward Hirving Lozano. It proved to be a momentary consolation as Pessina managed to once again put Atalanta two goals up, securing the team’s victory.
Atalanta will now play Juventus in the Coppa Italia final. Meanwhile, Napoli, a team struggling to regain its form, is under heavy pressure and many expect that a defeat to Juventus in the next match of Serie A could lead to the dismissal of manager Gennaro Gattuso.