Napoli Vs AC Milan [2–0] – Supercoppa Italiana 2025/2026: How Antonio Conte Tactics Punished Rossoneri Errors – Tactical Analysis

Napoli faced AC Milan in the Supercoppa Italiana semi-finals recently and beat them to advance to the final against Bologna.

After winning the title last season, I Rossoneri failed to repeat the feat this time, as Napoli were more determined and crucial in both the defensive and attacking phases, ensuring a positive result without resorting to extra-time or penalties.

Napoli continued to confirm their excellent run of form following the latest international break, despite a few slip-ups in Serie A and the UEFA Champions League.

More importantly, the team still looked powerful even against tough opponents like Milan, despite numerous key players’ injuries, which highlights the team’s ability to make up for significant absences.

In this tactical analysis, the aim is to explore Milan’s defensive and attacking errors and to examine Napoli’s attacking solutions that helped them break down Milan’s defence and win the game.

Napoli Vs Milan Lineups & Formations

Antonio Conte started the match in a 3-4-1-2 formation, with Vanja Milinković-Savić as goalkeeper and a defensive line of Juan Jesus, Amir Rrahmani, and Giovanni Di Lorenzo.

The midfield comprised Stanislav Lobotka and Scott McTominay as central midfielders, Leonardo Spinazzola and Matteo Politano as wing-backs, and David Neres as an advanced playmaker behind Rasmus Højlund and Eljif Elmas.

On the other hand, Massimiliano Allegri opted for the usual 3-5-2 formation, with Mike Maignan as goalkeeper, Fikayo Tomori, Koni De Winter, and Strahinja Pavlović as centre-backs, Alexis Saelemaekers and Pervis Estupiñán as wing-backs, and Adrien Rabiot and Ruben Loftus-Cheek as central midfielders.

Ardon Jashari replaced Luka Modrić as a defensive midfielder, and the attacking line featured both Christopher Nkunku and Christian Pulisic.

Napoli Attacking Solutions & Rasmus Højlund Breakthrough

The Italian clash marked the official breakthrough of the Danish striker and confirmed that he is having one of his best seasons, if not the best.

With two crucial goals and a very impactful performance, he proved he is a reliable striker capable of providing significant attacking depth to his team and of consistently posing a persistent threat to opposing defences.

Napoli started the match with the right attitude, pressing high on Milan’s defence throughout and ensuring they avoided dangerous attacks or long possession phases from the Rossoneri.

This helped them build more confidence and dictate their game, especially through their reliance on Højlund to drive the team forward, thanks to his excellent aerial duels and ball-protection mastery.

Rasmus Højlund Role In Napoli Attacking Plan

Højlund was capable of winning the “battle” against De Winter in almost every action involving both players, relying on his intelligence and physical strength to protect the ball when needed and turning and moving quickly when appropriate.

The following picture highlights one of the many times Napoli relied on passing to Højlund to block De Winter behind him, protect the ball, and wait for his teammates to arrive before serving one of them.

This was a recurrent action that helped Napoli reach Milan’s penalty box more than expected, thanks to the effective work of Højlund with and without the ball, as he made sure to be well-positioned to receive the ball whenever Napoli were building up from the back.

Napoli Plan To Create Spaces Behind Milan’s Defensive Line

Napoli were good enough in obliging Milan’s defensive line and midfielders to get out of their comfort zone and get much higher than usual in order to ensure the man-marking of the opposing attacking players whenever they receive the ball.

Napoli exploited this tendency in their favour by providing more passes and long passes to Højlund behind the final third and sometimes inside Napoli’s own half in order to attract Milan’s defenders and create spaces at their back.

This plan was successful on numerous occasions and helped Napoli create spaces for their quick wingers and wing-backs.

Napoli then exploited those created spaces very well, thanks to all of Spinazzola, Neres, and Politano’s movements and penetrations using those spaces.

But once again, the key role in making all of this possible was Højlund’s backward movements on more than one occasion to receive long passes, attract one or two defenders, and force Milan to leave a lot of empty space at their back, as in this example.

Spinazzola immediately used this space on the wing following Højlund’s backward pass, which allowed him to get past Tomori and launch a dangerous action from the wing.

This was one of the solutions Napoli found to counter Milan’s defensive line and avoid their marking, alongside Neres and Politano’s efforts on the right wing.

Napoli Shooting From Distance Weapon

Napoli were also capable of diversifying their attacking options and resorting to long-range shooting, with midfielders joining from behind.

This was an already-known Napoli plan that was effective and rewarding for them, whether this season or during last season.

Napoli’s reliance on McTominay’s shooting from distance and his great impact whenever he joins the final third was a recurrent solution that most of Napoli’s opponents are aware of but fail to defend against.

Milan failed to do so, as they gave plenty of time and space for both Højlund and McTominay to execute such plans.

The following action highlights Napoli’s exploitation of Milan’s defensive weaknesses, as Højlund made use of the non-disturbing marking applied to him and was able to do whatever he wanted in terms of movement with the ball and passing.

And with McTominay coming from behind without any marking, it was very useful to provide him a backward pass that allowed the Scottish midfielder to opt for a first-time shot that went inches away from goal.

But this further confirms the richness of Napoli’s attacking ideas and alternatives, even against a tough opponent like Milan.

Napoli were then capable of scoring two goals thanks mainly to Højlund’s excellent run of form in terms of movements, passing, and shooting on goal, and his ability to beat De Winter in the duel that was continuous between them in this match.

AC Milan Crucial Defensive & Attacking Errors

The match also confirmed that Milan’s defence is still vulnerable and that there are plenty of individual and collective mistakes that need to be urgently fixed if the team wants to keep challenging for the top four spots in Serie A.

Milan conceded two goals that could have been avoided if Milan’s players were good enough in terms of tight marking and cautious defending.

Instead, Milan’s defence made things easier for Napoli by allowing them to gain more confidence progressively and reach their penalty box so often with time.

AC Milan Marking Error During The First Goal

During the first goal action, Milan failed to stop or limit Højlund’s threat despite knowing that Napoli are relying on him to drive the team forward and provide passes in spaces.

De Winter, in particular, was not good enough at disrupting the Danish striker, and both Tomori and Pavlović were not supportive enough when needed or when they noticed that De Winter was unable to stop Højlund.

This left Højlund with plenty of room to pass or shoot inside the box, and that’s how the first goal was created: Højlund received the ball inside the box, turned, and provided an assist without being disturbed or being marked by one of De Winter’s teammates.

Milan Defensive Error During The Second Goal Action

Furthermore, Milan continued to defend superficially against Napoli even after the first goal and failed to limit Højlund’s threats.

It is true that Allegri had no reliable alternatives to replace De Winter.

Still, he could have instructed the team to apply systematic additional marking on Højlund as soon as he noticed his superiority over De Winter in duels.

However, Allegri did not make any tactical changes to address this issue, which led to Milan conceding a second goal and further exposing Milan’s defensive problems.

The second goal clearly highlights De Winter’s passive defending and the lack of support from the rest of the defenders and midfielders during a dangerous action.

Allowing Højlund to have a lot of time and space during such a dangerous action was very passive on De Winter’s part.

More importantly, not trying to make a sliding tackle to deflect the ball at the moment of shooting, and not getting closer to Højlund to disturb him or to try to intercept the ball when he was about to shoot, highlight the Belgian player’s poor defensive decision-making in key situations.

AC Milan Final Passing Decision-Making

Although Milan did not create many goal-scoring chances, they came close to scoring on a few occasions and could have changed the result if they had converted some of their dangerous chances.

Failing to score on the chances created is partly due to the lack of a proper striker in the team and to Nkunku’s unconvincing performances so far this season.

Also, the final passing decisions were not good enough in this game, as Milan had some suitable situations that could have been better exploited, as shown below.

During this dangerous counter-attacking action, Saelemaekers advanced with the ball quickly until he reached the final third, but failed to exploit his team’s obvious numerical superiority.

Instead of providing a through pass in space to either Pulisic or Nkunku, he opted for the beauty of the pass at the expense of its efficiency.

In other words, he provided a pass to Nkunku that lacked power using the outside of the foot.

The lack of power allowed Napoli’s defenders to retreat and obliged Nkunku to opt for a quick shot from distance.

Although Nkunku has his part to play in shooting the ball away from goal, Saelemaekers could have provided a better pass either to Nkunku or to Pulisic, who is quicker with the ball and could have been more crucial in such situations.

Conclusion

Napoli exploited Milan’s defensive and attacking issues extremely well and knew how to punish them for the superficial marking of their key attacking players.

The exceptional run of form Højlund is going through can only help Napoli win games at a delicate moment in the season, especially given that Napoli is dealing with numerous impactful injuries.

On the other hand, Milan will have to focus heavily on improving their defensive performance, especially in man-marking and covering opponents’ key attacking players.