Juventus beat Napoli to win Super Cup
Reuters - Saturday 11 August 2012, 16:54
Serie A champions Juventus scored twice
in extra time to beat nine-man Napoli 4-2 in an eventful Italian
Super Cup at the Beijing National Stadium on Saturday.
An own goal by Christian Maggio and a calm finish by Mirko
Vucinic in the first half of extra time gave Juventus the first
trophy of the season after Napoli had twice led in normal time
at a rain-soaked Bird's Nest.
Italian Cup winners Napoli lost goal-scorer Goran Pandev and
Juan Camilo Zuniga in the last 10 minutes of normal time through
red cards, while coach Walter Mazzarri was also sent off, for
dissent.
Pandev was shown a straight red for abusing a linesman, and
Zuniga was dismissed for two bookable offences.
Juventus' new signing Kwadwo Asamoah showed his worth on his
debut by scoring the first goal and setting up the fourth, and
he continually troubled Napoli down the left wing.
Juventus, who went unbeaten last season, were dealt a blow
on Friday when coach Antonio Conte was banned for 10 months over
a match-fixing scandal, but the Turin club showed no signs of
pressure as they took early control.
Napoli took the lead against the run of play in the 27th
minute through Edinson Cavani. Juventus keeper Gianluigi Buffon
came off his line to make a valiant save but the striker slotted
in the rebound.
Juventus equalised through Asamoah 10 minutes later, when
the Ghana midfielder found the net with a powerful left-foot
shot from outside the box.
Napoli restored the lead three minutes later after another
defensive lapse from Juventus. Leonardo Bonucci's attempted
clearance hit Pandev, who calmly flicked the ball over an
advancing Buffon.
Juventus equalised for the second time when Arturo Vidal
converted a penalty in the 74th minute after Vucinic was brought
down.