Coppa Italia 2019/20: Inter vs Napoli – tactical analysis

After a 122-day layoff, the return of Italian football was welcomed with an intriguing Coppa Italia semi-final 2^nd leg fixture. Inter and Napoli would battle out a tightly fought contest in the San Paolo stadium for a place in the final against Juventus.

Napoli entered the game with a one goal lead and the benefit of the away goal ruling meaning to progress a 0-0 draw would have been sufficient. The tie could not have started any better for Inter, however, who cancelled out Napoli’s first leg away goal by going 1-0 up from a direct corner taken by Christin Eriksen in the 2^nd minute of the game. From that point on, Inter largely dominated possession but found it difficult to penetrate Napoli who remained compact out of possession. Although Inter had far more chances, they could not capitalise on them and with Napoli equalising just before half-time, that was enough to send the Gli Azzurri through.

This tactical analysis will analyse how Napoli’s compact shape allowed them to prevent Inter from penetrating centrally, and how Inter attempted to break down Napoli’s defensive structure using rotations and the half-space.

Lineups

Antonio Conte tweaked his tactics adapting Inter’s customary 3-5-2 formation to a 3-4-1-2 with Eriksen playing slightly higher than Marcelo Brozović and Nicolò Barella in an attempt to position him in his favoured number ten role. Additionally, 22-year-old defender Alessandro Bastoni entered the back three as a right-sided centre-back replacing an injured Diego Godín.

Napoli opted for a 4-3-3 formation with Dries Mertens leading the line, often taking the role of a false nine in a fluid front three. Defensively, Napoli was without Kostas Manolas and central midfielder Fabián Ruiz who had scored in the first leg was only fit enough to make the bench with Eljif Elmas coming in as a replacement to make up the midfield three.