Coppa Italia 2018/19: Milan vs Napoli

Gennaro Gattuso managed to outwit his experienced counterpart Carlo Ancelotti and helped Milan defeat Napoli 2-0 to reach the Coppa Italia semi-finals. A few days after their goalless draw in Serie A, both teams offered a much more eye-catching performance.

Both teams started with pretty similar defensive strategies, which forced Gattuso to switch out of their most commonly used 4-3-3 formation. It turned out to be successful, not because it caught Napoli by surprise, but simply because this allowed Milan to think creatively, create opportunities and take advantage of them.

What was the plan?

The Rossoneri started in their most common 4-3-3 formation, as it was in their last Serie A game against Napoli. The difference was that the manager relied on a completely different frontline led by Krzysztof Piątek in the central striking position.

Ancelotti, on the other hand, used a 4-4-2 scheme with the idea of overloading the midfield area in order to use the spaces between the lines. It actually worked well in the first few minutes of the game. His team were successfully exploiting the spaces between Milans midfield and defence.

Napoli started with a 4-4-2 system under Ancelotti, and from the very beginning they  looked to dominate the midfield area. Their plan was to get more and more bodies into the midfield, especially between the defensive and midfield lines in Milans half.