A look towards Inter vs. Napoli in the Coppa Italia: facts and figures

MILAN – After the great win in the Derby, Inter are already prepared to return to the pitch for the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final against Napoli, which will be played at San Siro on Wednesday 12 February at 20:45 CET. The second leg will be played on 5 March at Napoli’s Stadio San Paolo.

In collaboration with Opta, here are all of the best stats, facts and figures about our upcoming Coppa Italia clash.

This will be the eleventh Coppa Italia clash between Inter and Napoli, with the Nerazzurri overcoming the Neapolitans with five wins to two so far. The remaining four fixtures ended in draws, with two of those being decided by penalties: Napoli won the shootout in ’97 while Inter triumphed in 2011.

Inter have won two of their last three games against Napoli in all competitions (with one draw), as many wins as in their previous 13 matches against the Neapolitans. The only time that Inter and Napoli have fronted up in a two-legged Coppa Italia tie was in the semi-final of ’97, when Napoli triumphed after penalties.

Inter have surpassed Napoli, either to move to the next round or lift the trophy, in six of their nine encounters in the Coppa Italia, but the Neapolitans have got the better of them on two of the last three occasions.

Since the 2010/11 season, Inter and Napoli have faced off four times in the Coppa Italia. Only three match-ups have appeared more often in the competition during this time: AC Milan vs. Juventus (six times), AC Milan vs. Lazio (six times) and Juventus vs. Lazio (five times).

INTER VS. NAPOLI, PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS AT SAN SIRO

Inter are unbeaten against Napoli at home in the Coppa Italia, thanks to two wins followed by a draw. In fact, the last five matches in the Coppa Italia have all been played at the San Paolo. The Nerazzurri won all three points in their last home game against Napoli in Serie A (thanks to a 1-0 win in December 2018), they now have the chance to win two home games in a row against the Neapolitans for the first time since the 2010/11 season.

In their last six games away at San Siro against both Inter and AC Milan in all competitions, Napoli have registered four draws and two defeats, scoring just the one goal (in the most recent encounter against the Rossoneri, a 1-1 draw in Serie A last November).

CURRENT FORM

Inter have not reached a Coppa Italia final since 2010/11, when in May 2011 they played their second final in successive years after 2009/10, the year of the Treble.

Antonio Conte’s men are unbeaten in ten games in all competitions (six wins, four draws): the Nerazzurri haven’t registered a longer unbeaten streak since December 2017 (in that instance they went 19 games unbeaten under Luciano Spalletti).

Napoli have only won the away leg of a Coppa Italia semi-final twice, in ’87 against Cagliari and in ’89 against Pisa: four draws and four defeats make up the rest of those away ties.

Napoli have been eliminated on their last two occasions that they’ve competed in the Coppa Italia semi-final (in 2015 vs. Lazio, and in 2017 vs. Juventus), but they have never been eliminated three times in a row at this stage of the competition.

GENERAL STATISTICS

Inter have had 15 different goalscorers across all competitions this season, a figure bettered only by Lazio (16) out of all the sides in Serie A.

Out of all four teams left in the Coppa Italia, Inter hold the highest average possession statistic in this year’s competition: 58%. The Nerazzurri are eighth in terms of possession stats in the league, with Napoli in second spot.

With 16 so far, Inter have scored more goals in the first half an hour of games than any other side in Serie A. This is double the amount that Napoli have scored in this time period (eight).

13 of Inter’s 64 goals across all competitions this season have come off the back of crosses.

Inter have conceded the fewest goals from dead ball situations in Serie A this season with just two; Lazio have conceded the second fewest with six.

Napoli have hit the woodwork on 25 occasions in all competitions this season, more times than any other team in Serie A.

Napoli’s average shot count across all competitions this season has been 17.8, a statistic only bettered by Atalanta (18.9) from the sides currently in Serie A.

PLAYER FOCUS

Romelu Lukaku has already scored 21 goals across all competitions in the 2019/20 season: he’s hit at least 20 goals in five of his last six seasons and has only scored more than his current total three times in his career (27 in 2017/18, 26 in 2016/17 and 25 in 2015/16).

Lukaku is one of just three players to have scored a brace against Napoli this season, the others being Erling Haaland (in the Champions League) and Gianluca Lapadula in the league last weekend.

Out of any player in Serie A to have taken at least 50 shots in all competitions this season, Lukaku holds the best conversion rate with 25.9%.

Since the beginning of December, only Alejandro Gómez (five) has provided more assists than Antonio Candreva (four) in Serie A.

Stefan de Vrij has scored two goals in his five Serie A encounters with Napoli.

Lautaro Martínez has scored twice in his three games against Napoli in Serie A, including his first goal off the bench in a Nerazzurri shirt.

Andrea Ranocchia’s next appearance will be his 200th for Inter in all competitions.

Arkadiusz Milik (ten) is one of six players in Serie A to have scored at least ten goals from open play in all competitions since October - Romelu Lukaku (13) and Lautaro Martínez (twelve) are both also on this list.

Matteo Politano scored eight goals at San Siro throughout his career, five of which came in an Inter shirt. His time in Nerazzurri colours saw him make 63 appearances and score six goals.