Stats and trivia ahead of Napoli vs. Inter in the Coppa Italia

MILAN – The moment has arrived: Inter are set to return to the pitch three months on from their last game, a defeat at the Allianz Stadium. Tonight, the Nerazzurri will be playing at the San Paolo as they look to overturn their first-leg defeat in their semi-final Coppa Italia clash against Napoli, who ran out 1-0 winners at San Siro thanks to Fabian Ruiz’s goal.

In collaboration with Opta, here are all the facts and figures that you need to know ahead of the showdown.

12 PREVIOUS MEETINGS BETWEEN INTER AND NAPOLI IN THE COPPA ITALIA

Inter and Napoli have faced each other on twelve previous occasions in the Coppa Italia. The Partenopei have kept a clean sheet in four of their last five fixtures against Inter in the competition after conceding in all of the seven matches between the sides prior to this. The only other time that Napoli and Inter have met in a two-legged affair in the Coppa Italia was their semi-final showdown in 1997: back then, it finished 1-1 at San Siro (goals from Zamorano and André Cruz) and 1-1 at the San Paolo (Zanetti and Beto), with the Partenopeti then winning on penalties.

Inter have won two of their last four matches against Napoli in all competitions (two defeats), as many as they’d managed in their 13 encounters with the Azzurri before this (five draws, six defeats). In eight of the last ten fixtures between Napoli and Inter in all competitions, one of the two teams hasn’t found the net.

NAPOLI VS. INTER, PREVIOUS MEETINGS AT THE SAN PAOLO

In the past seven meetings between Napoli and Inter at the San Paolo in the Coppa Italia, the Nerazzurri have won twice, drawn three times and lost on two occasions. The last game played between the teams in Naples was Inter’s quarter-final success in January 2016.

Napoli lost their last match against Inter at the San Paolo (1-3 in Serie A in January 2020). The Partenopei haven’t lost two home fixtures in a row against the Nerazzurri in all competitions since 1956, when the two teams were coached by Eraldo Monzeglio and Giuseppe Meazza respectively.

Inter have netted four times in their last two away fixtures against Napoli, only one less than they had managed to score at the Partenopei’s stadium in the six meetings between the sides in all competitions prior to this.

FORM GUIDE

Inter currently have the best away record in Serie A after picking up 29 points on the road. The Nerazzurri will travel to Naples with the aim of fighting back from a 0-1 deficit following Fabian Ruiz’s winner in the first leg. The last time that Inter lost two Coppa Italia matches in a row was in 2013, when Roma won both legs of the semi-final showdown between the sides in 2013.

Napoli have won all of their last three Coppa Italia matches without conceding. The Partenopei haven’t recorded four successive wins in the competition since 2005, when they also didn’t allow the opposition to score.

GENERAL STATISTICS

The Nerazzurri have the most different goalscorers (18) in all competitions out of any side in Serie A, four more than their Neapolitan opponents. Conte’s side are the only team to have scored more than one header (two) since the round of 16 in the Coppa Italia, with the Nerazzurri having scored 14 headed goals across all competitions this season, level with Torino for the most from any side in Serie A.

Out of the four teams left in this year’s Coppa Italia, Conte’s side have made the most passes in the final third (195), with Napoli last in this statistic with just 133 passes in this part of the pitch.

Napoli and Inter are two of just three teams (together with AC Milan) to have scored from outside the box in the Coppa Italia since the round of 16.

54.4% of Inter’s shots (excluding those blocked) have been on target, a record for the 2019/20 Serie A.

Gattuso’s side have kept the most clean sheets (three) since the round of 16 in this year’s Coppa Italia, despite being the team to have had the most shots taken against them in this time period (42).

PLAYER FOCUS

Fabián Ruiz (1488), Milan Skriniar (1386), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (1353) and Marcelo Brozovic (1344) are the four players to have completed the most passes this Serie A season. Napoli are also the side against which the Croatian midfielder has collected the most minutes in his Serie A career (784), scoring once and getting an assist across all of these appearances against the Neapolitans, with that decisive pass coming in January this year.

Inter’s first league match against Napoli this year was one of six occasions across all competitions this season where both Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez scored, this being the only time this has happened in 2020 so far.

The Nerazzurri’s Belgian forward has scored more away goals in Europe’s Top 5 leagues than any other player this season (twelve): four of his five league goals in 2020 have come away from home, including his brace against Napoli back in January. Lautaro Martinez has scored twice in three games against Napoli in Serie A, including his first goal off the bench in a Nerazzurri shirt. The Argentine forward has scored just one of his last five goals in all competitions on the road, the goal coming in Inter’s 3-1 win at the San Paolo back in January this year.

Antonio Candreva has scored and provided an assist in the same game on ten occasions in Serie A, with just three of these occasions coming away from home: the most recent was at the San Paolo in Lazio’s 4-2 win over Napoli back in May 2015.

Stefande Vrij has scored two goals in five Serie A games against Napoli.

Andrea Ranocchia’s next win in an Inter shirt will be his 100th for the Club in all competitions.

With his next goal, Dries Mertens will become the outright top scorer across all competitions in Napoli’s history, overtaking Marek Hamsik with the two players level on 121 goals.

Since joining Napoli, José Callejón has scored four goals against Inter in all competitions, with just one of these having come at home. He has only scored more against Verona (five) and Lazio (six).

Arkadiusz Milik scored in the last encounter between Napoli and Inter at the San Paolo, with the Neapolitans losing 3-1 in Serie A back in January.

Matteo Politano was a Nerazzurri player during the first part of the season. During his time at the Club, he scored six goals in 63 matches. The first of his two braces in Serie A actually came against Inter in May 2016.

COACH FOCUS

Gennaro Gattuso and Antonio Conte are tied in terms of results in all competitions, with one win each after Napoli’s 1-0 win in the first leg and Inter’s 3-1 league win in January this year.

SUSPENSIONS AND THOSE WALKING THE TIGHTROPE

SUSPENDED:No one

ONE BOOKING AWAY FROM SUSPENSION:

Napoli: Manolas, Ospina, Mario Rui, Fabian Ruiz.

Inter: Godin, Sensi, Skriniar.