David Ospina’s howler allowed Christian Eriksen to score directly from a corner, but he proved crucial as Napoli beat Inter 2-1 on the aggregate with Dries Mertens’ record-breaking goal, so Juventus will face off in the Coppa Italia Final.
The Partenopei will go on to face Juventus at the Coppa Italia Final in Rome from Wednesday, June 17.
Napoli claimed first leg 1-0 on February 12 with a deflected Fabian Ruiz strike in San Siro, but the Spaniard was only fit for Allan ‘s bench here when Kostas Manolas and Stanislav Lobotka were injured. Although Matias Vecino, Diego Godin, and Danilo D’Ambrosio were on the treatment table, a new trequartista role for Inter was given to Christian Eriksen.
This was the ideal start for Inter, as Eriksen’s corner bounced in three minutes at the head of Giovanni Di Lorenzo and David Ospina, completely misreading the bounce, allowing it to squirt at the near post through its legs. Immediately, they were all-square on aggregate and on goals to go.
Antonio Candreva and Marcelo Brozovic were not too far off target, while Samir Handanovic got away with fright at Alessandro Bastoni ‘s poor backpass and collected a deflected effort from Mertens. Ospina has done much better with his one-handed save on Lukaku’s header from an Ashley Young cross at full stretch on 31 minutes.
Young, however, was very fortunate not to be sent off moments later, because he was already on a yellow card when he clattered again to Politano in midfield with a very sloppy attack.
Inter struck, with Candreva selfishly going for goal himself while three other teammates were in the net, forcing Ospina to save another nice.
Once again, the goalkeeper proved decisive with a brilliant long ball on the ensuing corner to find Lorenzo Insigne, who drew away two defenders and put a no-look pass. It was a record-breaking shot, as Mertens surpasses Marek Hamsik to become the Napoli’s all-time top scorer with 122 goals.
