Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo believes their troubled season can be lifted by winning the Supercoppa Italiana in a new Final Four format.
The tournament will be played in Saudi Arabia next week, as the Partenopei play Coppa Italia finalists Fiorentina on Thursday, then Coppa holders Inter face Serie A runners-up Lazio on Friday.
The winners of those two semi-finals then go head-to-head for the trophy on Monday January 22.
“It would be nice to win that, we are in that tournament and will go for it,” Di Lorenzo told DAZN.
“In a competition like this, everything that has happened before is wiped out and you start from scratch. We will try to beat Fiorentina to reach the Final and give another trophy to Napoli fans.”
The Partenopei have struggled badly in Serie A this season, but got back on track with a last-gasp win over Salernitana this afternoon.
“We did well to equalise before half-time, because these are difficult situations against a side like Salernitana who clam up in defence, so the penalty incident helped us,” continued the captain.
“They had scored a worldie, but we kept playing and at the end of the day our efforts were rewarded.”
Di Lorenzo and goalscorer Antonio Candreva seemed to get into a row before half-time on their way to the tunnel.
“We cleared the air straight away. I had misunderstood, these things happen when there is a lot of tension. This is an important victory and hopefully we can climb up the table.”
Napoli had managed only one point from the previous three rounds, so the entire squad was put into a training retreat after a 3-0 defeat to Torino.
“There are moments when things don’t go your way, but we still proved that we have character. I am proud to be the captain of this squad, both in good and bad times. I don’t think our attitude and effort was ever in doubt.”
Due to the competitions clashing, Napoli go into the Supercoppa Italiana without Victor Osimhen and Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa, who are on Africa Cup of Nations duty.
#DiLorenzo: “Il lavoro è stato premiato. Supercoppa? Sarebbe bello portare a casa un altro trofeo” https://t.co/9Pij4wkmfv
— Alfredo Pedullà (@AlfredoPedulla) January 13, 2024