Milan rejected. The San Paolo exam ends badly for the Rossoneri, defeated by a decidedly more on the ball Naples, in all departments. Fair result, even narrow for the hosts, which at a certain point could also have spread. Benitez beats Seedorf, Higuain wins the confrontation with Balotelli: these two facts would be enough to explain the 3-1 final, but it would be at least an understatement. The reality is that Milan is still an open building site while Napoli is not, and so two specular game systems have been staged on the lawn of the San Paolo, but very different in their respective achievements.
The first twists of the evening come to the reading of the official formations. Benitez leaves Callejon on the bench and relaunches Insigne, but it is above all Seedorf who amazes with Abate on the playmaker line and Kakà on the bench. The debut of Taarabt, on the other hand, is widely expected, which the Italian public gets to know after just 8 minutes. The Moroccan takes the ball in his own half, advances undisturbed to the edge of the area and chills Reina with a splendid right-footed shot. Milan's advantage doesn't scare Napoli too much, also because 3 minutes later it's already 1-1: Inler kicks with power and, thanks to De Jong's deflection, beats Abbiati. Beautiful match, which the Azzurri take in hand with organization, technique and personality. In the 15th minute Higuain came close to scoring with a left footed shot, in the 22nd minute Mertens came face to face with the same Rossoneri goalkeeper who knocked him down on the edge of the box: for Massa it was only a yellow card and the decision was right. Opportunities abound, all for Benitez's men. Maggio, Hamsik, Higuain, everyone tries to score but nobody succeeds. At the interval Seedorf decides to strengthen the offensive phase by removing the unpresentable Robinho for Kakà. But the Rossoneri danced tremendously behind and in the 56th minute the fort (if you can call it that…) collapsed. Wonderful ball from Inler, a sweet tooth too greedy for Higuain, who grazes with his head and gives Napoli the lead. Milan tries to react but the maneuver is too slow and predictable and the only ring comes from a shot by Essien from outside the box. Seedorf tries everything: Emanuelson and Balotelli out, Montolivo and Pazzini in. Supermario, never in the game from the start, vents his disappointment by bursting into tears. The finale was thrilling: Taarabt and Pazzini came close to making it 2-2, then the trio of wonders Hamsik-Callejon-Higuain took the chair, who scored the final goal to make it 3-1 (82').
Napoli gets back to a safe distance from Fiorentina and can look forward to Wednesday's match with confidence, when Roma arrive at the San Paolo, while Milan take a big step back both in terms of standings and self-esteem. With the Champions League just around the corner, there's little to smile about.
