Juventus edge Napoli in their past Coppa Italia meetings, by five wins to three (two draws), although the Partenopei do enjoy the slight upper hand on home turf, winning twice and losing once in the four domestic cup fixtures to have been played at the San Paolo.

The Bianconeri’s solitary Coppa Italia triumph in Naples came in the most recent of those four trips south, in December 1999 when Filippo Inzaghi and a Darko Kovacevic brace saw them turn out 3-1 victors on the night and 4-1 on aggregate.

You have to wind the clock back to May 1978 for the latest Napoli home win over Juventus in the cup – a resounding 5-0 scoreline.

This time around, Massimiliano Allegri’s men take a 3-1 advantage with them to Naples after staging a dramatic comeback from behind on 28 February. Goals by Paulo Dybala (x2) and Gonzalo Higuain put the Bianconeri in the driving seat after José Callejon had struck the opener for the visitors.

On 16 January 2017, Juventus presented its new identity to the rest of the world, not simply in terms of its visual approach, but also a new philosophy, summed up by ‘Black and White and More’ – a holistic way of interacting with Bianconeri fans across the globe, whilst also reaching out to those people less familiar with the beautiful game.

Today, ‘Black and White and More’ has a fresh license to express its wide-ranging values during the Milan Design Week, FuoriSalone 2017 where it has its very own exhibition at Wallpaper* magazine’s Holy Handmade, located in the Mediateca Santa Teresa on Via della Moscova 28.

This represents another step towards the evolution of Juventus’ brand into a symbol of style with a global identity. Indeed, by positioning itself within Milan Design Week, Juventus has created a fresh and fascinating bond with a new community.

Juventus developed the theme of Wallpaper* magazine’s Holy Handmade, “reimagining ritual, reworking worship and reconsider the communal,” which, through its partnership with leading global brand consultancy Interbrand, offers an innovative interpretation of football: two precious, handmade, marble balls, one black and one white, with the club’s iconic new logo, made entirely of gold, mounted in the middle – the perfect imagery to sum up the ideas that led to the birth of Juventus’ new identity. In each project and each experience, football will always be the origin, never the end.

Source: juventus.com

Necessary to score in Naples

“These two matches against Napoli are completely different. Sunday’s was a league game, while tomorrow’s is a knockout match in the cup.

“It’s a very important objective of ours to reach our third consecutive Coppa Italia final and then go to Rome to try to win it again.

“It won’t be easy and we’re expecting a very open encounter tomorrow. Napoli made life tough for us at the weekend, but we’ve got what it takes to progress to the next round.

“We’ll need to play a better a game this time from technical standpoint, because we made too many mistakes on Sunday. We’ll also need to score to be sure of reaching the final. We may be leading the tie 3-1 but we can’t afford to rest on our laurels.”

Team news

“It’s unlikely that Mario Mandzukic will feature tomorrow. Any one of Alex Sandro, Stefano Sturaro or Juan Cuadrado could come in to replace him.

“Neto will definitely start in goal, but I still need to decide about the outfield positions. It could be that I make as many as seven or eight changes to Sunday’s starting XI. After all, we’re playing every three days so everyone needs to play their part.

“I’ll make a call on Miralem Pjanic and Claudio Marchisio’s involvement later today too. My decision-making won’t be affected by players on cautions who may be at risk for the final. Last year Leonardo Bonucci missed the final remember and Marchisio was suspended for the one the year before that.”

Glass half full

“We’re in a great position in all competitions with just a couple of months of the season left. We’ve a chance to reach the Coppa Italia final, the Champions League semi-finals and we’re in pole position for the Scudetto. We couldn’t be doing any better than that for the time being.

“As a rule of thumb, I hate negativity. Together, we’ve played a Champions League final, won two Coppa Italia trophies and two Serie A titles. You can occasionally draw the odd match, but the most important thing is reaching one’s own objectives.

“Only one team can win a given competition and it’s impossible to win forever, but what we have to take into account is the growth of this club both in Italy and on an international level. We’ve earned the respect of the rest of Europe and that counts for a great deal.”