Massimiliano Allegri praised his side’s second-half reaction after they came from a goal down to beat Napoli 3-1 in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final on Tuesday night.

“We did well after the break following a poor first half,” said the boss after the final whistle. “We got taken in by a couple of one-twos, though we didn’t actually give them too many chances and even had opportunities ourselves with [Gonzalo] Higuain and then [Mario] Mandzukic and [Stephan] Lichtsteiner.

“We needed to move the ball around more quickly but we made a few mistakes and gave the ball away a bit. That said, we did improve in the second half.”

Allegri was keen to the focus on the positives rather than dwell on an off-colour first 45 minutes.

“I have to congratulate the whole side, particularly for their impressive second-half performance,” said the coach. “It was a good reaction after they had gone a goal down – we improved on a physical level after break and our play was a lot more well organised, so I’m pleased with that.

“Napoli are always a tough side to face, but we’re getting better. We finished the match very strongly and that shows that the lads are in good shape.”

Despite the win, which puts Juventus in the driving seat ahead of the return leg in Naples, Allegri was quick to stress that his players should still be focused on raising their game.

“This side still has plenty of room for improvement, both in terms of their quality and intensity,” he said. “I have to hand it to them, but one player who has really come on is [Miralem] Pjanic. He’s been doing great things both in terms of building our play and breaking up our opponents’.”

Gonzalo Higuain admitted that Napoli gave Juve their money’s worth in the Coppa Italia semi-final first leg but ultimately the Bianconeri’s quality showed through.

“It was a very difficult match and Napoli were really good tonight,” the striker began. “They made it hard for us with their pressing game and we struggled to get the ball forward.

“[Massimiliano] Allegri told us to keep calm and itturned out all right in the end. We were patient and showed our strength.

“It was important to score tonight. Now we have a decent lead to take into the second leg. We have a massive three months ahead and we need to keep going as we are and not budge an inch.”

One of the second-half showings of the season took Juventus to within one step of the Coppa Italia final on Tuesday night as two penalties from Paulo Dybala and a poacher’s finish from Gonzalo Higuain set up a barnstorming 3-1 semi-final first-leg victory over Napoli at Juventus Stadium.

Behind early on to Jose Callejon’s close-range strike midway through a disappointing first period, the Serie A leaders roared back after the interval in style, overwhelming their thereto impressive visitors with three goals in the space of 22 minutes.

Beginning with the confidence of a side that had won every single one of their last 34 home matches across league and cup, it was up to the hosts to land the first meaningful punch of the evening, Paulo Dybala racing through onto Leonardo Bonucci’s raking crossfield pass only to be denied by the onrushing Pepe Reina.

Moments later, Mario Mandzukic headed narrowly over the bar via a deflection from the resulting corner and Kwadwo Asamoah slashed wide on the half-volley after Miralem Pjanic’s free-kick had come back off the Napoli wall.

Half-chances came and went for Napoli at the other end, the lively visitors twice testing the reflexes of Neto from distance, first through Marek Hamsik and then Marko Rog.

Then, moments after Higuain had fired narrowly over the bar after excellent link-up play with Kwadwo Asamoah, Maurizio Sarri’s side silenced Juventus Stadium to take the lead, albeit temporarily courtesy of Callejon’s tap-in from Lorenzo Insigne’s low, early cross.

Despite a dip in intensity towards the break, Massimiliano Allegri’s men were desperately unlucky not to be heading to the dressing room on level terms as Mario Mandzukic and Stephan Lichtsteiner were expertly denied at the back post by Reina in first-half stoppage time.

Given what was to come, the spurned chances would matter little.

Tellingly, Allegri sent his side out for the second period several minutes before their opponents and the move had its desired effect as the Bianconeri restored parity within an instant of the restart, Paulo Dybala converting a penalty he had won himself.

Suddenly Juve were reinvigorated – triggered in part by the introduction of Juan Cuadrado from the bench – beating Napoli to every second ball and making their passes stick in the final third as Sami Khedira and Higuain both failed to test Reina after making incisive runs into the box. With the away defence creaking, it was only a matter of time before Juventus struck again.

Right on cue, two critical errors from away keeper Reina – keeping his team in the game until that point – swung proceedings decisively in the Old Lady’s favour. On 65 minutes, the Spaniard left his goal unguarded for Higuain to sidefoot in on the volley after flapping at Pjanic’s corner before illegally halting an electrifying Cuadrado sprint from deep when clean through. Dybala once again flawless from the spot.

Three goals in 22 second-half minutes. Juventus flying, Napoli reeling.

Khedira would see a shot blocked by Kalidou Koulibaly at point-black range as the rampant hosts came within a whisker of adding a fourth but three would be more than enough on the night as the 11-time champions took a huge step towards another Coppa Italia final in Rome.

We go again in Naples on 5 April.