Napoli claimed their second Coppa Italia triumph in three seasons as they overcame Fiorentina 3-1 at the Stadio Olimpico.
A quickfire brace from Lorenzo Insigne in the opening 20 minutes put the Partenopei in a commanding position before Juan Vargas reduced arrears with a wonderfully taken goal in the first half. The second half failed to live up the intensity of the first and despite Gokhan Inler’s late dismissal, Dries Mertens secured the victory with a third in injury time.
The game was delayed by 45 minutes as Napoli fans wanted to delay kick off due to earlier violence in Rome that left four people, including two Napoli fans, injured and Marek Hamsik had to assure Napoli Ultras that one of the fans was in a stable condition before kick off could go ahead.
Fiorentina lined up without a recognised striker and were without the suspended Juan Cuadrado but named Giuseppe Rossi among the substitutes and the Partenopei were able to call on the services of Gonzalo Higuain following his injury scare last week.
Napoli created the early chances with Lorenzo Insigne forcing the save from Neto and the from the resulting corner only a desperate block prevented Higuain from opening the scoring.
The deadlock was broken in the eleventh minute following a swift Napoli counter; Hamsik was allowed to run from his own half and play in Insigne who was able to calmly steer the ball into the far corner past Neto.
Just five minutes later Insigne doubled the Partenopei’s lead following a deflected Higuain cutback with his driven effort being deflected past the keeper to leave the Viola stunned.
The Viola finally came into the game just before the half hour, Josip Ilicic played in Vargas who finished emphatically into the bottom corner of Jose Reina’s net from the edge of the area.
On the stroke of half time Alberto Aquilani had the ball in the back of the net following a free kick played in to the box but he was rightly judged to be offside.
The second half began a much tighter affair than the first half as neither side could create the clear openings that they had before the break. The game became more possession based as play centered around the middle third of the pitch as Ilicic fire high and wide with a rare effort on goal.
Soon after, Reina had to tip a long range Matias Fernandez comfortably behind for a corner as the Viola began to press with the introduction of Rossi. Following the resulting corner, Napoli once more broke clear on the counter and Neto was alert to the danger of Goran Pandev’s effort as he rushed out to block the chance.
With ten minutes to go Inler received a second booking for a reckless challenge to leave his side with ten men during the closing stages.
Ilicic spurned a glorious chance to level following a through ball from Alessandro Matri; eight yards out and with only Reina to beat, he somehow managed to clip the ball past the far post.
There was still time for Matri and Fernandez to fire shots wide as the game drew to a close, but it was the Partenopei who were able to clinch a late goal as Mertens’ low finish ensured Napoli’s fifth Coppa Italia victory in their history.
