Napoli crashed out of the Coppa Italia Round of 16 for the third year running this time around in a humiliating fashion after suffering a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Frosinone at the Diego Maradona Stadium.
As Frosinone have emerged as winners, they will face either Juventus or Salernitana in the next round.
This is a setback for the Partenopei, who were coming off victories against SC Braga and Cagliari as their visitors made their first-ever foray into the round of 16.
Walid Cheddira, who played against his parent club, had the first shot of the game, but it went off-target in the opening 120 seconds.
Jesper Lindstrom couldn’t find a breakthrough as he could only sting the goalkeeper’s gloves at the near post, while Giovanni Simeone also struck the side-netting.
Giacomo Raspadori tried to score from a tight angle as he clipped his shot outside of the near post on 21 minutes but couldn’t find a breakthrough.
After Giuseppe Caso turned Alessandro Zanoli inside out, his shot was charged down by Leo Ostigard.
Frosinone handed Napoli a gift of a goal in the 37th minute but were rescued by the VAR.
After Okoli cut off Zanoli and released what he thought was a simple back-pass for Michele Cerofolini, Simeone intercepted it and deposited it into an empty net.
However, the goal was chalked off as Okoli was let off the hook by VAR, who spotted a Lindstrom handball much earlier in the build-up, which was considered to be sufficient to disallow the goal.
A frustrated Napoli side saw a Simeone strike deflected wide before Raspadori’s free-kick was palmed off the line.
They continued from where they left off in the first half but were denied by the woodwork again after the restart. A Mario Rui free kick went around the wall to thump the upright.
In search of a goal that will help them avoid extra time, Walter Mazzarri threw on Victor Osimhen and Kvicha Kvaratskhelia just past the hour mark, which didn’t yield the required result.
It was Frosinone who instead took the lead moments later. Enzo Barrenechea scored from a free header from six yards that looped up into the far top corner.
Napoli thought they had restored parity, but their goal got disallowed again, and Frosinone doubled their advantage with an almost identical situation. Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s back-pass was into a blind alley and was intercepted by Caso, who scored one-on-one with Pierluigi Gollini.
Things got worse for the host as they conceded a penalty. Skipper Di Lorenzo caught Matias Soule on the toe for a penalty, and Cheddira, who is on loan from Napoli, converted.
They made it four deep into stoppages as a through ball sent Abdou Harroui running down the center, and he beat Gollini one-on-one.
This is historic for Frosinone, who had never beaten Napoli or even reached the Coppa Italia last 16 before.
Written by Oladipupo Mojeed
Alessandro Zanoli
