Napoli edge Cagliari on penalties to reach Italian Cup quarter-finals

Serie A champions, Napoli, edged into the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup on Wednesday, eventually seeing off Cagliari on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Antonio Conte’s charges squeezed through 9-8 in the shoot-out after Sebastiano Esposito’s second-half strike for the visitors had cancelled out Lorenzo Lucca’s opener on 28 minutes.

The last-16 tie went straight to penalties after the 90 minutes, as per Italian Cup rules.

Cagliari’s fourth penalty taker, Mattia Felici, was the first to blink, his attempt crashing against the crossbar.

But Brazilian David Neres missed his chance to be the match-winner as his next effort was easily saved by Elia Caprile.

Napoli goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic made his first save of the shoot-out at the 10th time of asking as he denied Zito Luvumbo, before Alessandro Buongiorno netted to send the hosts through.

In the last eight, Napoli will face the winners of the tie between Como and Fiorentina, scheduled for the end of January.

Elsewhere, Atalanta ran out 4-0 victors at home to Genoa.

The round of 16 continues later Wednesday as Inter Milan host Venezia, the last Serie B club still in contention, while defending champions Bologna welcome Parma on Thursday.

AFP

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