Juventus 0 (2) – Napoli 0 (4): Initial reaction and random observations

Over the course of the second half of Wednesday night’s Coppa Italia semifinal, a small group of pigeons started making their way across the screen. I posted on Twitter about it, and the replies I got were pretty much right on point with what I was thinking: These stinkin’ pigeons are a lot more exciting than what we’re all seeing play out on the field.

No amount of virtual fans could save us from it.

Juventus played out the same kind of game that we saw a few days earlier in the Coppa Italia semifinals against Milan. The first 25-30 minutes against Napoli on Friday night were pretty good, with Juve testing Alex Meret at least a couple of times. The rest of it, though? Well, let’s just say that if it wasn’t for Gigi Buffon — yes, all 42 years old of him — doing absolutely classic Gigi Buffon things time after time, this would have been an absolutely Napoli romp rather than something that was decided by penalty kicks.

It was rather fitting that following a second half where Juve looked like they really had no idea how to break down Napoli’s defense that the first two penalties — from Paulo Dybala and … Danilo — were saved and then skied over the goal. It was the wide open door that Napoli needed to capture the Coppa Italia 4-2 on penalties and extend Juventus’ post-coronavirus shutdown frustration just that much more.

Source: blackwhitereadallover