Napoli crashed out of the Coppa Italia Round of 16 for the third year running, but never in such humiliating fashion, as Frosinone emerged 4-0 winners and will face either Juventus or Salernitana.
The Partenopei were coming off victories against SC Braga and Cagliari, but Eljif Elmas, Piotr Zielinski, Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa and Mathias Olivera were not fully fit, while the Canarini missed Luca Mazzitelli, Reinier, Riccardo Marchizza and Sergio Kalaj, but it was their first ever foray into the Round of 16.
Walid Cheddira, who is on loan from Napoli, had the first shot just off target in the opening 120 seconds, but Jesper Lindstrom stung the goalkeeper’s gloves at the near post and Giovanni Simeone only struck the side-netting.
Giacomo Raspadori tried to score from a tight angle and clipped the outside of the near post on 21 minutes.
Giuseppe Caso turned Alessandro Zanoli inside out only for his shot to be charged down by Leo Ostigard, but Frosinone handed Napoli a gift at the 37th minute.
Caleb Okoli had cut off Zanoli and thought it was a simple back-pass for Michele Cerofolini, but did not realise Simeone was there to intercept and deposit into an empty net. However, Okoli was let off the hook by VAR, who spotted a Lindstrom handball much earlier in the build-up and it was considered to be sufficient to disallow the goal.
Napoli were frustrated and Simeone saw a strike deflected wide before Raspadori’s free kick was palmed off the line.
The hosts hit the woodwork again after the restart, this time a Mario Rui free kick going around the wall to thump the upright.
With no breakthrough and the desire to avoid extra time, Walter Mazzarri threw on Victor Osimhen and Kvicha Kvaratskhelia just past the hour mark.
Instead, Frosinone took the lead moments later when Enzo Barrenechea was allowed a free header from six yards that looped up into the far top corner.
Incredibly, while Napoli had their goal disallowed earlier, Frosinone doubled their advantage with an almost identical situation. This time it was Giovanni Di Lorenzo whose back-pass was into a blind alley, intercepted by Caso and scored one-on-one with Pierluigi Gollini.
Kvaratskhelia tried to squirm between two defenders and went down, but Okoli seemed to nod it back to his goalkeeper before the collision and the referee was very close to the incident.
It got even worse when Di Lorenzo caught Francesco Gelli on the toe for a penalty that Cheddira – on loan from Napoli – converted.
Deep into stoppages, a through ball sent Abdou Harroui running down the centre and he beat Gollini one-on-one. The final whistle was barely audible under the deafening jeers from the crowd.
It was doubly historic for Frosinone, who had never beaten Napoli or even reached the Coppa Italia last 16 before, but will now face Juventus or Salernitana in the quarter-final.
Napoli 0-4 Frosinone
Barrenechea 65 (F), Caso 70 (F), Cheddira pen 91 (F), Harroui 95 (F)
Player statistic
| 43' |  |
Mehdi Bourabia | ||
| 45+1' | |
Giorgi Kvernadze |
| Jens Cajuste | |
61' | ||
| 65' |  |
Enzo Barrenechea (Assist: Luca Garritano) | ||
| 70' | |
Giuseppe Caso | ||
| 70' | |
Giuseppe Caso | ||
| Gianluca Gaetano | |
74' | ||
| 80' | |
Abdou Harroui | ||
| Matteo Politano | |
85' | ||
| 89' | |
Ilario Monterisi | ||
| 90+1' | |
Walid Cheddira | ||
| 90+5' | |
Abdou Harroui (Assist: Pol Lirola) |
Match statistic
