David Ospina made amends for an early gaffe and then some as hosts Napoli drew Inter Milan 1-1 on Saturday to clinch a berth in the Coppa Italia Final with a 2-1 aggregate win.
Ospina couldn’t handle a Christian Eriksen set piece in the second minute, but the ex-Arsenal man set up the equalizer with a brilliant bit of distribution and made a number of tremendous saves in the draw.
Dries Mertens became Napoli’s all-time leading scorer when he nabbed the equalizer off a Lorenzo Insigne assist, and Ospina made eight saves. He’s scored 122 goals in a Napoli shirt.
Gennaro Gattuso’s Napoli will meet Juventus in Wednesday’s Coppa Italia Final.
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Napoli and Inter showed their appreciation to local health workers before today’s Coppa Italia semifinal 👏 pic.twitter.com/kp4rwrgzsf
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The sides honored medical workers by gathering around the circle for a moment of silence before kickoff, with three masked workers (or representatives of them) at the center.
Eriksen’s early corner kick fooled Ospina and level the tie oh-so-quickly.
Christian Eriksen scores directly from a corner to pull Inter level with Napoli on aggregate!
Watch the Coppa Italia live on ESPN+ ➡️ https://t.co/pCEvrvgTBw pic.twitter.com/hzUHPFggo3
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Antonio Candreva drove the right side in the 40th minute and chose a close range shot that Ospina palmed away from goal.
Napoli got its goal from Mertens within a minute, as Ospina pinged a fantastic outlet punt to Insigne. The Italian drove the left side and slipped a pass across to the Belgian for 1-1 on the day.
Ospina would make one of his best stops on a delightful Inter interplay between Romelu Lukaku, Lautaro Martinez, and Eriksen, the latter seeing his shot saved before Victor Moses blazed the rebound over the frame.
Follow @NicholasMendolaDries Mertens became Napoli's all-time leading goalscorer with this goal!
Club legend 👏 pic.twitter.com/WcZhOkElIj
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) June 13, 2020