Preview: Napoli vs Bologna - prediction, team news, lineups

With the Supercoppa Italiana up for grabs, Scudetto holders Napoli and cup winners Bologna will meet in Monday's final.

After eliminating the Milan clubs to reach this season's decider, the pair are set to clash at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh. 

Match preview

Striding through to the final, Napoli swept past AC Milan with a routine 2-0 win on Thursday, as the Serie A champions knocked out the Supercoppa holders.

Once David Neres converted from close range just before the interval, the Partenopei were clearly content to contain Milan's tame attack and strike on the break. 

Finishing off a clinical counter, Rasmus Hojlund added the crucial second goal after half time, all but wrapping up victory and ensuring his team would stay in Saudi Arabia.

Crowned Italian champions for the fourth time last term, Napoli are now targeting their third Supercoppa success, having previously lifted the trophy in 1990 and 2014.

Unpredictable of late, Antonio Conte's side travelled east for this four-team tournament on the back of consecutive defeats in Serie A and the Champions League, abruptly ending a streak of five straight wins.

Beaten by Benfica and then Udinese, those results continued a dire run of form on the road. Napoli have already lost seven away games this season; by contrast, they recently completed an unbeaten calendar year on home turf.

One such setback came at Stadio Dall'Ara last month, when they were impressively outplayed by Bologna. Including that 2-0 defeat, the Azzurri have now won just one of the last six games against their Rossoblu rivals.

Previously, Bologna had lost five straight meetings, but that tide has turned ahead of the clubs' first-ever Supercoppa contest.

Head coach Vincenzo Italiano - who recently conquered Napoli in his 200th top-flight match as a manager - also masterminded last term's Coppa Italia final win over Milan, securing the Rossoblu's first major trophy for 51 years.

As a result, they qualified for this season's Super Cup, starting off with Friday's semi-final against Inter Milan.

Though Inter stormed into an early lead, talisman Riccardo Orsolini soon levelled matters from the spot; with the scores still all-square after 90 minutes, Bologna eventually prevailed in a low-quality penalty shootout.

So, having also taken Fiorentina into a Coppa Italia final and successive Conference League deciders before moving to the Dall'Ara, Italiano is set to contest a fifth cup final in four years.

Italiano's team are going well on all fronts this term, sitting sixth in Serie A and in good shape to reach the Europa League’s last 16; they also began their cup defence by beating nearby Parma earlier this month.

However, Bologna have recently picked up just one point from their last three league games - also failing to keep a clean sheet for seven across all competitions - so they are far from invulnerable.

Napoli form (all competitions):

L D W L L W

Bologna form (all competitions):

L W D W L W

Team News

© Imago

Conte made several changes for Thursday's semi-final, with regular starters Alessandro Buongiorno and Sam Beukema being rested, so it remains to be seen whether the pair will return to Napoli's three-man defence.

The Scudetto holders have few such options in midfield: despite welcoming Stanislav Lobotka back last week, Kevin De Bruyne, Frank Anguissa and Billy Gilmour are all unavailable. 

Things look a little brighter up front, though. After four months on the sidelines, Romelu Lukaku was named on the bench against Milan. 

With the Belgian striker not yet ready to start, Hojlund will lead the Partenopei's attack, having notched nine goal involvements across all competitions this season.

While Conte is not usually minded to rotate his squad, Bologna boss Italiano frequently makes substantial changes.

Nonetheless, Santiago Castro is expected to keep his place up front, ahead of Ciro Immobile - scorer of the winning penalty against Inter - and Thijs Dallinga, who scored in last month's league win over Napoli.

Remo Freuler and first-choice goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski headline the Rossoblu’s absence list, while Federico Bernardeschi was forced out of Friday's semi-final by a collarbone injury.

Italiano also has some concerns at the back. Nicolo Casale is ruled out; Jhon Lucumi and Martin Vitik are both short of full fitness.

Napoli possible starting lineup:

Milinkovic-Savic; Beukema, Rrahmani, Buongiorno; Di Lorenzo, Lobotka, McTominay, Spinazzola; Lang, Neres; Hojlund

Bologna possible starting lineup:

Ravaglia; Holm, Lucumi, Heggem, Miranda; Moro, Ferguson; Orsolini, Odgaard, Cambiaghi; Castro

We say: Napoli 1-1 Bologna (Bologna win on penalties)

The Coppa Italia holders can upset the reigning Serie A champions, having proven their cup credentials in recent months - but this final could go all the way to spot-kicks.

Napoli were second best when the sides met in Bologna just a few weeks ago, and they may miss out on this season's first silverware.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.