🏆 Italy's first silverware at stake as Inter aim to send message | OneFootball

To be the best, you have to beat the best.

That is the old mantra which Simone Inzaghi’s Inter side will be aiming to prove true on Monday evening as they face Napoli for the season’s first silverware in Italy.

It is the Partenopei who hold the honour of being top dogs in Italy as things stand, the deadly duo of Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvarateskhelia firing them to a title they won on cruise control last season.

They have been a shadow of that side this year though, hit hard by the departure of Luciano Spalletti, with his replacement Rudi Garcia having already been replaced by Walter Mazzarri.

He at least has stoked the fires a little ahead of Monday’s meeting in Saudi Arabia, a fixture that rarely matters too much in the grand scheme of the Serie A season, and made things a little more intriguing with an interesting claim.

“They’re a great team with a great coach but even the best can have moments when their form wobbles and we’ll face Inter during their best period of form,” he told reporters.

“If we can do well in these circumstances then it will give us confidence. I wouldn’t settle for a draw [an impossibility in the final]: don’t forget Napoli are reigning Italian champions and will remain so until someone wins the Scudetto.

“We had more possession when we played them in the league but lost 3-0 because of their clinical counter-attacks. Football is a strange sport and although we’re missing some key players, in terms of mentality I think we’re on the same level as Inter.”

Osimhen and André-Frank Zambo Anguissa are on Africa Cup of Nations duty for Napoli, Alex Meret and Mathías Olivera are injured and Piotr Zielinski isn’t at 100% fitness.

They are far from the all-conquering juggernaut of last season. In fact, it is today’s opponents who have usurped them as the form side in the peninsula.

With 51 points from their first 20 games of the league campaign, it is their second best start in club history – bettered only by 2006/07 which did have the considerable post-Calciopoli caveat attached.

They are also averaging just under 2.5 goals per game and concede just one every two matches.

Lautaro Martínez has taken his game to yet another level, Hakan Çalhanoğlu remains as reliable a threat as ever and Marcus Thuram and Yann Sommer have proven to be sensational bits of low-cost Bundesliga business.

Both sides may have won their respective semi-finals 3-0 and Napoli may be the current crown holders but this season looks like it will belong to Inter and there is no better way to signal that intent and live up to the hype than by retaining their Supercoppa crown.

Not only does their form make them considerable favourites but Inzaghi’s career record against Mazzarri is also another reason for Nerazzurri confidence.

Inzaghi has won four and drawn another of their six career meetings, including a 3-0 victory in their most recent showdown.

And the former Lazio boss is also bidding for his fifth success in this competition.

Will this be the biggest step yet towards dethroning the kings?