Napoli was the first club qualified to the semifinals of the Coppa Italia. On Tuesday, the team led by manager Gennaro Gattuso defeated Lazio, the current champions, by 1-0 at the San Paolo stadium, in Naples, and keep on fighting for the title.

The winner was scored early in the game, in the second minute, by striker Lorenzo Insigne.

The qualification to the semifinals was a boost for the Neapolitan fans, who have been suffering seeing their team doing a bad campaign in the Italian Serie A.

On the pitch, Napoli had a strong start, putting pressure on the early minutes and scoring their goal with only two minutes of the game. Insigne received from the left, rounded defender Francesco Acerbi inside the box and shot low, through the legs of goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha. A beautiful solo goal from Insigne.

Shortly after, on the 8th minute, Albania Hysaj was reckless inside the area and brought Caicedo down. Penalty for Lazio and a yellow card for the defender of the Neapolitan team. It was the striker Ciro Immobile who took the pen, however, he lost his balance at the time of the kick and made it easy for Ospina to save it.

At the 19th minute, Napoli’s defender Hysaj was given a red card after a second yellow. Down to 10-man, the Azzurri tried to defend more and count on counterattacks.

Soon things got equal again when Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva, from Lazio, received a yellow card and a red card in less than a minute. For that moment on, the game was the same and both teams had chances to score, sending balls into the post. But the scoring remained unchanged.

With the victory, Napoli will face the winner from the clash between Internazionale and Fiorentina, who will face each other next week at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium, in Milan.

For Lazio, the sadness at the elimination in the Coppa Italia has to be quickly overcome by manager Simone Inzaghi. The team is in the fight for the title of the Serie A, occupying the third place, with 45 points, which is six less than the leader Juventus and two less than second-placed Inter.