Juventus down Napoli 4-2 to win Italian Super Cup

Beijing, Aug 11 (IANS): Serie A winner Juventus sank Coppa Italia champion Napoli 4-2 to win the Italian Super Cup at the Bird’s Nest here Saturday.

“The win definitely boosts our morale for the coming season,” said current Juventus coach Massimo Carrera, reports Xinhua.

The Italian Super Cup is a curtain raiser to the new season held the week before the season begins in Italy every year.

“I am very satisfied with the attacking line, and there is no need to reinforce the defence,” said Carrera adding the club will try to deliver more victories.

Juventus coach Antonio Conte has been banned for 10 months due to an investigation into match-fixing. He led the club to the Serie A title in 2011-12.

Cavani from Uruguay opened the scoring for Napoli in the 26th minute when he was one-on-one with goalkeeper Buffon. Asamoah pulled one back in the 36th minute for Juventus with a long shot from the left wing. Four minutes later, Pandev scored a one-on-one goal following a defensive error on the Juventus side.

The score was held until the second half, when Vidal secured a 2-2 tie from a penalty in the 73rd minute.

However, luck was on Juventus’ side, when two players from the rival team were sent off. Pandev had a fierce word with the assistant referee and received a red card. Teammate Zuniga got a second yellow near the end of second half.

Maggio of Napoli scored an own goal while trying to save a goal in first half of extra time. Vucinic secured another goal for Juventus.

Juventus won their fifth Super Cup title. Ironically, Napoli defeated Juventus 5-1 in Super Cup in 1989-90 season as Serie A winner, when Diego Maradona served the team.

Asamoah of Juventus was awarded the man-of-the-match, while Pirlo was named as the most popular player.

The Bird’s Nest is the fourth international venue chosen for the Italian Super Cup after Washington (1993), Tripoli (2002) and New York (2003).

It is the third time that the Italian Super Cup was held here. The tournament was hosted here in 2009 and 2011.