Italiano: ‘Bologna gave everything, but Napoli were fantastic’

Vincenzo Italiano acknowledges Bologna were out-played by ‘fantastic’ Napoli in the Supercoppa Italiana Final. ‘We gave it everything we had, but were unable to raise our level to match them.’

The Rossoblu were in their first ever Supercoppa Italiana, as the tournament had not yet been invented when they last won silverware.

They qualified thanks to the Coppa Italia triumph last season, their first in 51 years, and beat Inter on penalties in the Supercoppa semi-final after a 1-1 draw.

David Neres opened the scoring tonight with a fantastic curler, but the second goal was avoidable, when Federico Ravaglia and Jhon Lucumi got into a muddle playing out from the back.

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“We tried to do everything we possibly could this evening against a team that overperformed, with Neres having an amazing game,” Italiano told Sport Mediaset.

“Ferguson had the opportunity to get it back on level terms, but once we went 2-0 down, that was the end of that.

“Napoli put in a fantastic performance, we gave everything we had, but were unable to raise our level to match them. It’s a pity, but these are the games that help a team to grow.”

Was goalkeeper Ravaglia particularly disappointed at that weak back-pass allowing Neres to score the second goal?

“Ravaglia did great things in the previous game, he had a hiccup, but that changes nothing. He cares so much about this club, it’s like he has the Bologna colours tattooed on his skin,” explained Italiano.

“It’s a pity, but we lost to a truly great performance from our opponents. It’s never easy to reach the Final, we work on those errors so that we can improve in future.

“We are still in several different competitions and must never lower our guard.”

This was the fifth Cup Final that Italiano has participated in over the last four years, but he has lost four of them.

Aside from beating AC Milan in the Coppa Italia Final, he also lost two Conference League Finals and a Coppa Italia Final at Fiorentina.

“I have no regrets tonight, because the lads gave their all. We started as attacking as possible with Odgaard connecting the midfield with the attack, but it didn’t cause the Napoli defence enough problems,” added Italiano.

“Perhaps the biggest mistake was trying to force the ball through and lacking patience, but we were up against the reigning Champions of Italy. We honoured this competition.”