Our prediction for this Coppa Italia match:
After holding Napoli to a goalless draw at Stadio Diego Maradona, Atalanta will be looking to book their place in the Coppa Italia final when they welcome the Neapolitans at their Gewiss Stadium. The Orobici dropped a three-goal advantage in a 3-3 draw with Torino at the weekend, meaning that they can’t afford any more complacency. As always, a man to watch in the home team will be Josip Ilicic, who has been playing key role in Gian Piero Gasperini’s team ever since Papu Gomez left the club.
Napoli are likely to adopt yet another cautious approach, but seeing that Atalanta have turned their Gewiss Stadium into a real fortress, we predict that the visitors are going to return home empty-handed. Hateboer and Sutalo are injured for the hosts, while Manolas and Mertens remain sidelined for the visitors. Both Ghoulam and Koulibaly have been tested positive for coronavirus.
Highlighted Player (Duvan Zapata):
Duvan Zapata was born in Cali, Colombia on 1 April, 1991. The 186-cm-tall attacker started his youth career at America de Cali, playing for the club between 2004 and 2008. In 2008 he made his debut for the first team and three years later he scored his first hat-trick for the Colombian outfit, in a 3-2 win over Deportivo Pereira.
In 2011 he signed a loan deal with Estudiantes and he found the net for the Argentine team on his debut against Belgrano. After scoring 11 goals in 37 appearances for Estudiantes, the Colombian striker joined Napoli in 2013, but he failed to establish himself as a first-choice attacker.
On 22 July, 2015 Zapata joined fellow Serie A team Udinese on loan and it has to be noted that he scored eight goals in 24 league appearances for the Zebrette. Duvan Zapata has 5 caps for Colombia U20 team, but he has yet to make his debut for the senior side.
Highlighted Team (Napoli):
SSC Napoli is an Italian football club from the city of Naples which is playing currently in the Serie A. The club was founded officially in 1926 but the history from Napoli reaches back to 1904 with the club Naples Foot-Ball & Cricket Club that fused with Internazionale Napoli and was called FBC Internaples.
After 4 seasons the club changed its name to SSC Napoli (Societa Sportiva Calcio).
In the end of the eighties Napoli had the biggest success in the club history with the Argentinian legend Diego Maradona. Diego Maradona was able to win the league title twice, the national cup and the UEFA cup. The moment Maradona left the club Napoli got into big financial trouble.
In 2004 the local club was bankrupt. Despite the help of financial investors the club got regulated to the Serie C. After 6 years of playing in lower divisions Napoli managed to get back in the Serie A in season 2007/2008. Famous players that played for the club from Naples are: Maradona, Zola, Cavani, Blanc, Di Canio, Cannavaro.