Napoli lift Italian Super Cup

Doha — Napoli beat Juventus 6-5 on penalties to win the Italian Super Cup on Monday and deny Massimiliano Allegri a first trophy in charge of the Bianconeri.

Rafael saved Simone Padoin’s final penalty after Kalidou Koulibaly had converted to win the match for Napoli despite Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon saving three spot kicks. The match had ended 2-2 after extra time with Napoli forward Gonzalo Higuain twice cancelling out strikes from Argentine compatriot Carlos Tevez.

It was end-to-end action at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, much to the delight of the sellout crowd of 14,000 fans, who loudly cheered every Juventus attack. The traditional season opener between the Serie A champions and the Italian Cup winners had been rescheduled because of international commitments. The victory was a revenge for Napoli, which lost to Juventus in the same competition two years ago.

Juventus, which holds the joint record number of victories, was looking to move clear of AC Milan with a seventh win. And it got off to the perfect start after a defensive howler from Napoli.

Raul Albiol and Kalidou Koulibaly collided when trying to clear David Lopez’s poor back-header, allowing Tevez to race clear and beat Rafael one-on-one with barely four minutes on the clock. Marek Hamsik went close to an equaliser when his effort took a deflection off Giorgio Chiellini to leave Gianluigi Buffon stranded but the ball came off the right post.

Tevez almost doubled his tally but he was denied twice in quick succession by good saves from Rafael after more poor defending by Napoli. Napoli recovered and Higuain could have sent his side in at halftime level only to be thwarted by a fine diving save from Buffon.

Jose Callejon should have equalised shortly after the break following a fantastic defense-splitting pass from Hamsik but he fired inches wide of the left post from almost an identical position to the Tevez goal. Napoli hit the post for the second time in the match when Higuain’s delightful chipped effort went over Buffon but came off the far right post.

“We played a great match and it was even greater because we beat a team like Juventus,” said Napoli coach Rafael Benitez after claiming his 12^th career title.

“We’re all very happy and want to dedicate it to the fans who came here and also to those in Napoli.

“All the lads played well: Higuain made the difference in attack, Rafael was decisive at the end.” Buffon pulled off a great reaction save to deny Higuain but could not prevent the Argentine from leveling two minutes from time. In the shootout, the Italy goalkeeper saved spot kicks from Jorginho, Dries Mertens and Jose Callejon but Tevez sent his crashing off the post and Roberto Pereyra blasted off target while Rafael denied Giorgio Chiellini and Padoin.