Napoli scrape through in Coppa Italia after dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Cagliari

The game began promisingly for Napoli, when Lorenzo Lucca rose to head in a Matteo Politano cross in the 28th minute.

But the advantage did not last, in the 67th minute substitute Sebastiano Esposito capitalised on a loose ball, resulting from a rebound off a tackle, to level for Cagliari.

Under the rules of the Coppa Italia, the game went straight to penalties rather than extra time. The shoot-out proved gruelling: both sides converted their first nine kicks, before Cagliari's fourth taker, Mattia Felici, struck the crossbar.

Later in the sudden-death phase, Napoli goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic finally made a decisive contribution, saving Cagliari's Zito Luvumbo, before defender Alessandro Buongiorno slotted the winning penalty.

Napoli head coach Antonio Conte described the shoot-out as "interminable", but insisted "the team that deserved it the most went through."

Having survived the scare, Napoli now await the winner of the tie between Como and Fiorentina, with their quarter-final fixture likely in late January.

Meanwhile, in other Coppa Italia action, Atalanta thrashed Genoa 4-0 to reach the last eight while Inter Milan crushed Venezia 5-1.

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