Napoli survives marathon shootout to reach Coppa Italia quarterfinals against Cagliari

Match Recap

Napoli, the league champions and current co-leaders, needed a penalty shootout to reach the Coppa Italia quarterfinals, beating visiting Cagliari 9-8 after a 1-1 draw in regular time at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.

From the round of 16, Napoli seemed set to seal qualification early as they went ahead in the 28th minute thanks to a headed finish by Lorenzo Luca.

Nevertheless, Cagliari refused to quit and leveled through Sebastiano Esposito on a counterattack in the 67th minute, sending the tie to extra time and then penalties.

The shootout turned into a marathon before Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, the Serbian keeper, denied a late attempt by Zito Lovombo, paving the way for Alessandro Bongiorno to convert and seal Napoli’s win ahead of a tough league test against Juventus on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Atalanta continued their revival by routing Genoa 4-0 to book their place in the quarterfinals.

Napoli’s progress sets up a potential clash in the quarters with a fellow big gun, while Atalanta will face Juventus in the next round as the cup’s road intensifies.

The round’s other results and schedules saw teams like Inter, Vicenza, Bologna, Parma, Lazio and Milan plotting paths through the rest of the fixtures, with a couple of key derbies and cross-competition ties on the horizon.

As for the future fixtures, Roma and Torino were slated for January 13, Fiorentina and Como for January 27, and further cups ties to come, keeping fans glued to every penalty kick and dramatic moment.

Punchline time: If penalties are theater, Napoli just did a full Broadway season—curtain call, stand-up saves, and a crowd that wouldn’t blink at overtime. Punchline 2: My fantasy team wouldn’t survive this shootout—my coffee, on the other hand, would need a save from Vanja Milinkovic-Savic after this coffee break.