| 66th Coppa Italia Final | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 TheStadio Olimpico inRome held the final | |||||||
| Event | 2013–14 Coppa Italia | ||||||
| |||||||
| Date | 3 May 2014 | ||||||
| Venue | Stadio Olimpico,Rome | ||||||
| Referee | Daniele Orsato[1] | ||||||
| Attendance | 65,000 | ||||||
←2013 2015 → | |||||||
The2014 Coppa Italia final decided the winner of the2013–14 Coppa Italia, Italy's main football cup. It was played on 3 May 2014 at theStadio Olimpico inRome, betweenFiorentina andNapoli. Napoli won the game 3–1, with two early goals fromLorenzo Insigne and a late third by substituteDries Mertens, although they hadGökhan Inler sent off in the second half.Juan Manuel Vargas scored Fiorentina's goal.
As Napoli qualified for theUEFA Champions League by their league position, Fiorentina as runners-up qualified for the Group Stage of the2014–15 UEFA Europa League. This was the last season in which cup runners-up could qualify for the Europa League if the winner had already qualified for the Champions League.[2] Napoli went on to play in the2014 Supercoppa Italiana against the2013–14 Serie A championsJuventus, and won.
The final was marred by pre-match violence, which delayed the scheduled kick-off time. Three Napoli fans were shot, one of whom died following a two-month coma. Club PresidentAurelio De Laurentiis dedicated Napoli's victory to the wounded fans.
.JPG)
Fiorentina played their 10th Coppa Italia final, having won six, including their last in2001. It was Napoli's ninth, and they had previously won four, including their last final in2012.[3]
Duringthe league season, Fiorentina and Napoli had already played each other twice. The first fixture, on 30 October 2013 at theStadio Artemio Franchi, resulted in a 2–1 away win for Napoli which ended Fiorentina's unbeaten home record. All of the goals came in the first half—José Callejón opened the scoring,Giuseppe Rossi equalised with a penalty andDries Mertens scored the winner in the 36th minute. In the closing stages of the game,Christian Maggio was sent off for the visitors, andJuan Cuadrado for the hosts.[4] In the reverse fixture, at Napoli'sStadio San Paolo on 23 March 2014, Fiorentina were victorious asJoaquín scored the only goal of the game with three minutes remaining;Faouzi Ghoulam had been sent off for the hosts in the first half for foulingMarko Bakić when the Fiorentina midfielder had an opportunity to score.[5]
Prior to the cup final, Napoli were in third place in Serie A and therefore in the last position to qualify for the Champions League, eight points ahead of Fiorentina with nine points left to play for. Fiorentina managerVincenzo Montella said before the game that his priority was to finish fourth and win the Coppa Italia. His Napoli counterpart,Rafael Benítez, warned his players not to expect to win solely based on their league position.[6]
Players and staff of both clubs were invited toVatican City the day before the final, where they listened to a speech byPope Francis. Managers Montella and Benítez presented souvenirs of their clubs to the Pope.[7]
| Fiorentina | Round | Napoli | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Result | 2013–14 Coppa Italia | Opponent | Result |
| Chievo | 2–0 | Round of 16 | Atalanta | 3–1 |
| Siena | 2–1 | Quarter-finals | Lazio | 1–0 |
| Udinese | 1–2 (A), 2–0 (H) (3–2agg.) | Semi-finals | Roma | 2–3 (A), 3–0 (H) (5–3agg.) |
Fiorentina, ofSerie A, entered the tournament in the Last 16 at home toChievo, also of their league. They won 2–0 with first-half goals from Joaquín andAnte Rebić, despite the dismissal ofMassimo Ambrosini.[8] In the quarter-final on 23 January, again at home, they beatSerie BSiena 2–1 withJosip Iličić opening the scoring andMarvin Compper scoring the winner.[9] Fiorentina's semi-final againstUdinese began with a 2–1 away defeat on 4 February, but the second leg on 12 February was a 2–0 home victory with goals fromManuel Pasqual and Cuadrado.[10]
Napoli, also of Serie A, entered in the Last 16 on 15 January with a 3–1 home win overAtalanta, in which Callejón scored twice andLorenzo Insigne the other goal. Their quarter-final on 29 January was a 1–0 victory at home over cup holdersLazio, with a late goal fromGonzalo Higuaín.[11] Like Fiorentina, Napoli began their semi-final with an away defeat (3–2 againstRoma), but secured their place in the final with a 3–0 victory at home on 12 February, with goals from Callejón, Higuaín andJorginho.[12]
Fiorentina were without record signingMario Gómez, the German striker having suffered with injury all season. Their top scorer of the season,Giuseppe Rossi, had been injured since January but was included as a substitute. Montella opined that Rossi would be ready to represent Italy at theWorld Cup in June.[6] GoalkeeperNeto and midfielderBorja Valero had been doubts due to recent finger and knee injuries respectively, but made the starting line-up.[6] Midfielder Cuadrado was suspended, having been given a yellow card towards the end of their semi-final victory over Udinese.[13]
Napoli's top scorer of the season, Higuaín, started despite a bruise to his shin from his last match. Benítez said "Not everyone in the team is 100 per cent, but we are in good shape".[6]
Three Napoli fans were shot outside the stadium before the match, two with arm injuries.[14] Ciro Esposito, who was in a critical state after being shot in the chest, died in hospital on 25 June.[15] Police, who found the gun, have stated that they do not believe that the shootings were related to other clashes by the two sets of fans: prior to the game, there were reports offirecrackers and other projectiles being thrown between them in the Tor di Quinto area of Rome. Kick-off was subsequently delayed as Napoli fans did not want the match to start without knowing the condition of the shot fans. When match organisers attempted to speak to the Napoli fans, accompanied by their midfielderMarek Hamšík, they were "pelted with flares and smoke bombs".[16] Daniele De Santis, a Romaultra was convicted of shooting Esposito and was sentenced to 26 years in prison on 24 May 2016;[17] his sentenced was later reduced on appeals to 16 years on 26 September 2018.[18]
Napoli winger Insigne opened the scoring in the 11th minute by cutting in from the left and curling a shot past Fiorentina goalkeeper Neto. He doubled the lead six minutes later by connecting to Higuaín's cross and forcing a deflection offNenad Tomović. With two goals in the final, he equalled the number of goals that he had scored in the entire Serie A season.[19] Fiorentina responded in the 28th minute, whenJosip Iličić chipped the defence andJuan Vargas volleyed the ball into the goal.[19]
Fiorentina had chances to equalise in the second half, with a long shot from substituteMatías Fernández tipped over the crossbar by Napoli goalkeeperPepe Reina, and Iličić missing a one-on-one.[20] Despite being reduced to ten men for the last ten minutes after a secondbooking forGökhan Inler after he fouled Iličić, Napoli extended their lead ininjury time when substitute Mertens scored a third after being set up by Callejón.[19]
        Fiorentina |     Napoli |
|  |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Napoli supporters invaded the pitch to celebrate following their team's victory. However, they were brought under control in order to allow the trophy ceremony to take place.[21]
Aurelio De Laurentiis, club president of Napoli, dedicated the cup win to the then unidentified fan who had been shot before the match and operated on.[22] On the pre-match violence,Demetrio Albertini, vice president of theItalian Football Federation, said, "It certainly wasn't a great scene, what we displayed today alongside football, for a football lover like me, it was an ugly display."[22]
As cup winners, Napoli qualified for the2014 Supercoppa Italiana in which they would face Serie A championsJuventus. The match had traditionally taken place in August, but Napoli requested it be moved due to their Champions League play-off that month. The fixture was eventually played on 22 December during the league's winter break, at theJassim Bin Hamad Stadium inDoha, Qatar. It finished 1–1 after 90 minutes, 2–2 after extra time, and Napoli won 6–5 in thepenalty shootout.[23]
