By David Awopetu
Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata helped Juventus to beat Napoli 2-0 to win the Italian Supercup on Wednesday, the annual meeting between the Coppa Italia winners and Serie A champions.
Ronaldo’s 760th career goal may have seen him overtake a disputed total from Josef Bican to become the highest scorer of all time.
Napoli, who beat Juventus in the final to win last season’s Coppa Italia, came close to taking the lead midway through the first half, but Hirving Lozano’s bullet header was brilliantly saved by Juve goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Substitute Federico Bernardeschi almost made an immediate impact early in the second half but was denied by David Ospina in the Napoli goal, before Ronaldo pounced from close range in the 64th minute.
Napoli were then handed a golden opportunity to equalise after Dries Mertens was fouled in the penalty area, but Lorenzo Insigne dragged his spot kick wide.
As Gennaro Gattuso’s side committed bodies forward in stoppage time, Juve broke on the counter with Morata making sure of the win that secured Andrea Pirlo his first trophy as a senior coach.
“It is a great joy to win a trophy,” Pirlo told Rai Sport.
“It is even more beautiful than winning as a player. It is difficult to see beautiful finals. It was important to win above all after the defeat against Inter. We had to show our pride.”
Pirlo’s side controlled much of the game, but had their Polish keeper to thank for keeping Napoli at bay with two outstanding saves.
