Napoli - Inter story: three previous meetings on 6 January

MILAN - For Inter, 2020 begins away against Napoli at the San Paolo on 6 January. The match on the day of the Epiphany holiday will kick off the calendar year for the Nerazzurri. In total, Inter and Napoli have met three times on 6 January with the Nerazzurri winning every meeting on that date. 

The first time that Inter and Napoli faced off on 6 January was in 1938 in a Coppa Italia quarter-final. The Nerazzurri were led by Armando Castellazzi who had enjoyed a long playing career as an Inter midfielder and would end the season the by winning the Scudetto. The Coppa Italia tie finished 0-2 with two goals that made history from Giuseppe Meazza and Annibale Frossi. The result sent Inter (then Ambrosiana Inter) through to the semi-final which they would end up losing before going on to win the league title on the final day away at Bari. 

The second match came exactly a year later in 1939 but it was in the league and in Milan. The match was won by an Enrico Candiani goal as Tony Cargnelli’s side picked up a 1-0 win in a season which finished with a third-place finish but with a Coppa Italia triumph. 

More recent was the match at San Siro between Inter and Napoli on 6 January. It was in 2011, the first match of the year with Leonardo in charge os his first match. Inter went into the game having just won the Club World Cup. Ahead of kick-off, San Siro celebrated the side that had won five trophies between May and December 2010: Serie A, the Coppa Italia, the Champions League, Supercoppa Italiana and Club World Cup. Inter started the year on the right foot thanks to a Thiago Motta brace. He opened the scoring with a left-foot strike before heading in to make it 3-1 against Mazzarri’s Napoli side. The other goal came from Cambiasso who got onto the end of a Maicon cross after Pazienza had made it 1-1 for the visitors. It was a good way to start the year back on 6 January, nine years ago.