Napoli and Empoli meet at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, in a match for this phase of the Coppa Italia (Eighth Final). In this stadium, the history of direct confrontations is favorable to the home team, which registers 3 victories in the last 3 matches. Indeed, the last time these two teams played a match at this stadium was on 02‑11‑2018, in a match for Serie A that ended with Napoli’s victory by (5‑1). The goals of the match were scored by L. Insigne (9 ‘), D. Mertens (38’, 64 ‘and 90’) and A. Milik (90 ‘), for Napoli, and F. Caputo (58’), for the Empoli. In this match the home factor may be decisive, as Empoli present considerable differences in their results at home and as a visitor.
Napoli:
The home team plays its first match in this edition of the Coppa Italia with the intention of taking advantage of the home factor to achieve a positive result. This is a team little affected by the home factor, that is, it presents similar results at home and away, since in the last 30 games it has registered 8 victories, 2 draws and 5 losses as a visitor, with 22 goals scored and 16 suffered; against 9 victories, 2 draws and 4 defeats in his stadium, with 35 goals scored and 13 suffered. The team comes to this match after an away win against Udinese by (1‑2). In the last 10 home matches for all competitions, Napoli won 4, drew 2 and lost 4. Their defense has not been very solid, since they have conceded goals in 9 of the last 10 matches, but their attack has scored with consistency, as they have scored goals in 8 of the last 10 games. There is a tendency to have goals in their home matches, since 50 of the last 57 matches they have played have ended with Over 1.5 goals. In 15 games, he came back in 2 of the 6 games in which he suffered the first goal.
Napoli comes to this match after a 1×2 victory in the visit to Udinese, thus returning to the victories after the defeat against Spezia: the team’s goals were scored by Lorenzo Insigne and Tiemoué Bakayoko. In this game against Empoli, coach Gennaro Gattuso must act 4-3-3, favoring the maintenance of possession and organized attacks. The three arrows pointed at the opponent’s goal will be Lorenzo Insigne, Hirving Lozano and Fernando Llorente and the player responsible for defining and leading the attacks of his team is the midfielder Tiemoué Bakayoko. The coach cannot count on Konstantinos Manolas, Victor Osimhen and Dries Mertens, all with physical problems.
Empoli:
Until reaching this stage of the Coppa Italia (Eighth Final), the visiting team eliminated: Brescia, Benevento and Renate. This is a team that curiously has been stronger away than at home, since in the last 30 games they have registered 9 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses as a visitor; against 8 victories, 4 draws and 3 defeats in his stadium. The team comes to this match after a win away against Cosenza by (0‑2). In the last 10 away matches for all competitions, Empoli won 6, drew 3 and lost 1. Their attack has scored regularly, scoring goals in 8 of the last 10 matches. In 9 games, they suffered the first goal 4 times and only managed 1 comeback.
Empoli come to this match after a 0x2 victory in the visit to Cosenza, in a match for the Italian second division: the team’s goals were scored by Marco Olivieri and Leonardo Mancuso. In the previous Italian Cup qualifiers, the visitors eliminated Renate, Benevento and Brescia. Coach Alessio Dionisi’s team usually performs in a traditional 4-4-2, in which the two most advanced pieces are Leonardo Mancuso and Andrea La Mantia. The brain of the team is midfielder Nedim Bajrami, the player responsible for defining and leading his team’s attacks. Outside this game will be Filippo Bandinelli and Davide Zappella, both with physical problems.
