Juventus vs Napoli Preview: Supercoppa Italiana Final | 20th Jan

Preview: After a horrific loss to Inter at the weekend, Juventus are back in action as they face Napoli on Wednesday as a part of the 33rd edition of the Supercoppa Italiana.

Last year the two sides played each other in the finals in Rome where Napoli emerged victoriously. As far as it is about the history of the Old Lady in the competition, the defending Serie A champions have won the Supercoppa eight times, while the Naples outfit have only managed to lay their hands on it twice.

Surprisingly, Juventus have been on the receiving end both the times against Napoli in their two final revelings. A win on Sunday would've helped Juventus to climb up, just a point adrift of Inter Milan with a game in hand but Andrea Pirlo's side couldn't bear Antonio Conte's counter-attacking Milan side.

The Bianconeri failed to help Pirlo win the 'Master vs Apprentice battle' but they will now have to shift their focus towards the Napoli game, another opportunity to make a statement and make it clear that they cannot be written off.

Head to Head

Juventus have won 13 games, losing only seven, while six have been drawn. However, the last two fixtures between the two have been won by Napoli.

Recent Form

Juventus are now just a point but two spots behind Napoli but they would be eager to get things right as soon as they can. When Juventus suffered a loss in the Derby d'Italia against Inter Milan, Napoli thrashed Fiorentina 6-0 and moved to their third spot.

The first meeting of this season between the two sides saw a lot of heat as it was controversially canceled as the Napolean squad did not travel because of quarantine regulations by the Neapolitan health authorities.

Gennaro Gattuso and co did not travel to Turin after two positive COVID-19 tests made the officials change their minds and conclude on the above-mentioned decision.

As far as recent form is concerned, Juventus have lost two games out of six, while the others have been victories. Napoli have the same amount of wins but they have lost only once.

Team News

Juventus will be without the services of Paulo Dybala who is injured. Alex Sandro, Juan Cuadrado, and Matthijs de Ligt are yet to test negative and therefore, will be missing the important tie.

However, Pirlo does have options galore in the midfield with Arthur, Adrien Rabiot, Aaron Ramsey, Weston McKennie, Dejan Kulusevski, and Federico Chiesa all available.

Morata will be paired with Cristiano Ronaldo again upfront. For Napoli, Victor Osimhen is a doubt, while it is certain that Dries Mertens will not be able to make it for the game.

Otherwise, Gattuso will have quite a few options to select from.

Juventus Predicted Starting XI

Napoli Predicted Starting XI

Juventus vs Napoli Prediction

Juventus would be desperate to get back to winning ways. It is possible that they start off on a high note, something Gattuso will have to keep in mind. However, if Napoli counter as crisply as they did during the weekend, they got lead to Juventus dismissal again.

Pirlo would want to give his best as concerns over his appointment seem to start flashing in people's minds and it will be the job of the players to make sure that the Old Lady could emerge with a win.

Sportco predicts Juventus to win the Italian Super Cup tonight.