Coppa Italia: Napoli 0-0 Modena – Partenopei scrape through on penalties | OneFootball

Napoli scraped through their Coppa Italia first round clash at home to Serie B outfit Modena on Saturday night, eventually winning 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 stalemate in the original 90.

Alex Meret proved to be the Partenopei hero on the night, saving two penalties in the shootout after Walid Cheddira missed his and Napoli’s second. Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Cyril Ngonge, Giovanni Simeone and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia managed to hold their nerve.

Antonio Conte had what was arguably his strongest line-up out against Modena, naming a back three of Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani and Alessandro Buongiorno, with Pasquale Mazzocchi and Leonardo Spinazzola at wing-back in a 3-4-3.

Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa partnered Stanislav Lobotka in the centre of the park, while Matteo Politano, Giacomo Raspadori and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia led the line. Victor Osimhen has not appeared for Napoli since the 0-0 draw against Lecce on the final day of the 2023-24 season.

The Partenopei dominated the ball for the majority of proceedings, eventually ending up with 75% of the game’s possession, but they struggled to turn their share of the ball into any genuine chances.

If anybody looked most likely to score in the opening 45, it was Modena’s Antonio Palumbo, who tested Meret after 20 minutes, and then bent a delightful curling effort off the corner frame of the goal 10 minutes later.

Napoli had a fair few shots of their own, 28 of them by full-time in fact, but only six of them ended up on target. Kvaratskhelia and Lobotka registered efforts either side of half-time, but neither came particularly close to troubling Riccardo Gagno in the Modena net.

Kvaratskhelia did briefly trouble Gagno with an improvised, but difficult volley from the side of the six-yard box with 67 gone.

Lobotka also tried again from the edge of the area just before the final whistle, but again, nothing that the goalkeeper couldn’t handle.

Though it wasn’t the slickest of displays on a collective level, the praise has gone in the direction of Meret, who crucially saved Modena’s third and fifth penalties from Thomas Battistella and Giovanni Zaro, respectively.

Napoli will next be in Coppa Italia action on September 25, where they will meet the winner of Parma vs. Palermo.

Full-time: Napoli 0-0 Modena (4-3 on penalties)

Napoli Penalties: Di Lorenzo, Cheddira (X), Ngonge, Simeone, Kvaratskhelia.

Modena Penalties: Palumbo, Magnino, Battistella (X), Bozhanaj, Zaro (X).

Napoli (3-4-3): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Buongiorno; Mazzocchi, Anguissa, Lobotka, Spinazzola; Politano, Raspadori, Kvaratskhelia.

Modena (4-5-1): Gagno; Caldara, Zaro, Pergreffi. Cotali; Santoro, Battistella, Idrissi, Magnino, Palumbo; Gliozzi.