Napoli suffer, fight and in the end celebrate: at the end of a penalty shootout marathon , which ended with a score of 10-9, the Neapolitans secured qualification for the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia by beating Cagliari at the end of an intense match, decided only by the penalty spot.

The home team started strong and controlled the pace and the pitch in the first half. They took the lead in the 28th minute: Lucca perfectly capitalized on a cross from the right by Vergara and, with a precise header, beat Caprile to make it 1-0, reflecting Napoli's dominance. Throughout the first 45 minutes, Cagliari never managed to trouble Milinkovic-Savic, who was a near-independent spectator.

The second half saw a dramatic change in the match. The introduction of Sebastiano Esposito gave the Sardinians a boost: the striker entered the match decisively and scored the 1-1 goal, restoring the tie. Napoli responded and came close to regaining the lead with a splendid shot from McTominay, but were unable to put the game to bed in regulation time.

The shootout thus went to penalties, where the tension mounted with each penalty. The series was incredibly long, almost interminable, until the decisive error by the Rossoblù and the final conversion that gave Napoli a 10-9 lead and a pass to the quarterfinals.

The rossoblù penalty takers:

Obert (yes), Borrelli (yes), Prati (yes), Felici (no), Esposito (yes), Luperto (yes), Adopo (yes), Idrissi (yes), Di Pardo (yes), Luvumbo (no).

(Unioneonline/Fr.Me.)