Juventus beat Napoli to win Italian Super Cup

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Juventus' Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini (Front L) lifts the winners' trophy to celebrate with teammates after Juventus won the Italian Super Cup (Supercoppa italiana) football match against Napoli on January 20, 2021 at the Mapei stadium - Citta del Tricolore in Reggio Emilia. (AFP / MIGUEL MEDINA)
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Juventus' Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini, Napoli's Italian forward Andrea Petagna and Juventus' Italian defender Leonardo Bonucci go for the ball during the Italian Super Cup (Supercoppa italiana) football match between Juventus and Napoli on January 20, 2021 at the Mapei stadium - Citta del Tricolore in Reggio Emilia. (AFP / MIGUEL MEDINA)
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Updated 21 January 2021
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Juventus beat Napoli to win Italian Super Cup

REGGIO EMILIA, Italy: Andrea Pirlo won his first trophy as a coach on Wednesday as Juventus beat Napoli 2-0 in the Italian Super Cup.
Cristiano Ronaldo blasted in his 20th goal of the season following a corner on 64 minutes in Reggio Emilia, before Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne missed a penalty and Alvaro Morata added a second deep into injury time.
Pirlo, 41, clinched his first silverware five months after taking over at his former club where he won four league titles.
“Winning a first title (as a coach) is a great joy, different from that felt as a player, it’s even more beautiful,” said Pirlo, who lifted the trophy three times as a player with Juventus and AC Milan.
Juventus won the annual trophy, played between the league champions and Italian Cup holders, for the ninth time, having finished runners-up last year to Lazio.
“This trophy is very important because it can give us confidence for the rest of our season,” said Ronaldo.




Juventus' forward Cristiano Ronaldo (3rdR) shoots to score past Napoli's goalkeeper David Ospina (front) during the Supercoppa Italiana football match between Juventus and Napoli on Jan. 20, 2021 in Reggio Emilia. AFP / Miguel MEDINA 

Juventus sit fifth in the league, 10 points behind leaders AC Milan, after losing 2-0 to second-placed Inter Milan last weekend.
“The Scudetto is possible, Milan and Inter are very strong, but there are still a lot of games to be played and we can still do it,” added Ronaldo.
It was the first meeting between Pirlo and Napoli coach Gennaro Gattuso, who won the 2006 World Cup together and spent a decade as AC Milan teammates, winning two Serie A titles and two Champions League crowns together.
They have not faced off this season after Napoli refused to travel to Turin for their October league match because of coronavirus cases — a fixture which has still to be played.
“I’m sorry for Gennaro Gattuso, but we wanted to react after the defeat against Inter Milan,” said Pirlo.
“We bet a lot on the pride of the players, we wanted to show that we were a team.”
Juventus received a boost hours before kick-off with Juan Cuadrado recovering from coronavirus and starting for the first time in two weeks.
Napoli had the best chance of the first half in the Mapei Stadium, with Juve keeper Wojciech Szczsesny demonstrating quick reflexes to save Hirving Lozano’s diving header just before the half-hour mark.
Federico Bernardeschi came off the bench after the break in place of Federico Chiesa and immediately had an impact.
Juventus piled on the pressure after an hour when Ronaldo was sent through on goal and defender Kostas Manolas almost deflected the ball into his own net.
But the five-time Ballon d’Or winner made the most of the resulting corner, with the ball bouncing off Tiemoue Bakayoko and into the path of the unmarked Portuguese forward to fire in his 20th goal of the season.
Napoli had a chance to equalize from the spot after Weston McKennie fouled Dries Mertens, but Insigne wasted the opportunity by dragging a woeful effort wide.
Szczsesny pulled off another late save before a last-gasp Morata goal sealed victory.
“We all lost together, not because of Lorenzo’s penalty. Let’s move on,” said Gattuso, 43, whose side beat Juventus in last season’s Italian Cup.
“In the first half there was a bit of fear. I don’t remember Juve’s serious chances today.
“We could have done better, but the match is very similar to the one seven months ago. In fact, we suffered more seven months ago than today.”


Trump said Iran ‘welcome to compete’ in World Cup, says Infantino

Updated 11 March 2026
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Trump said Iran ‘welcome to compete’ in World Cup, says Infantino

US President Donald Trump has said that Iran is “welcome” to participate at the upcoming World Cup in North America, despite the ongoing Middle East war, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday.
The war, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on February 28, has thrown into doubt Iran’s participation at this summer’s men’s football World Cup, jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
During a meeting to discuss preparations for the competition, “we also spoke about the current situation in Iran,” Infantino, the head of world football’s governing body, wrote on Instagram.
“During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” he wrote.
The comments marked the first time that Infantino, who in December created a FIFA peace prize and awarded it to Trump, has acknowledged the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Trump’s remarks to Infantino are a stark contrast to his comments to Politico last week.
Trump told Politico: “I really don’t care” if Iran play at the World Cup.
FIFA’s president has grown close to Trump since he returned to the White House, even attending his inauguration.

Asylum claims 

Iran’s federation football chief on Tuesday cast doubt on his team’s participation in the sporting extravaganza, following the defection of several women footballers from the Islamic republic during the Asian Cup in Australia.
“If the World Cup is like this, who in their right mind would send their national team to a place like this?” Mehdi Taj asked on Iranian state television.
While the event is spread out across three countries, Iran are scheduled to play all three group games in the United States, two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.
Should Iran withdraw from the sport’s quadrennial showpiece, it would be the first time a country did that since France and India pulled out of the 1950 finals in Brazil.
On Tuesday, at the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, some players from Iran’s team claimed asylum after they came under fire from state television for not singing the country’s national anthem before one match.
Five players, including captain Zahra Ghanbari, slipped away from the team hotel under the cover of darkness to claim sanctuary from Australian officials, the Australian government announced.
At least two more team members applied to stay later in the day, according to local media.
However, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Wednesday that one of them had subsequently changed her mind.
Burke said in parliament on Wednesday that he had since been advised that one of the group “had spoken to some of the team mates that left and changed their mind.”
“She had been advised by her team mates and encouraged to contact the Iranian embassy,” he said.
“As a result of that, it meant the Iranian embassy now knew the location of where everybody was.”
The remaining players have been moved from a safe house to another location, he said.