Reggio Emilia (Italy) (AFP)

Andrea Pirlo, just four months after his debut as a coach, can already lift a first trophy: the Italian Supercup, won against Napoli by his friend Gennaro Gattuso (2-0) thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata.

Three days after the disappointment against Inter Milan (0-2) of his Juventus still under construction, the "Maestro" showed that he had not lost any of his culture of winning.

Even if his team also won thanks to the penalty missed by the Neapolitan captain Lorenzo Insigne at the end of the match and two high-class reflex saves from his goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

Juventus won its ninth Italian Supercup (in 33 editions), for this edition which marked the return of this competition to Italy (in Reggio Emilia) after two editions in Saudi Arabia, in this period of coronavirus.

After the missed meeting between the two teams at the start of the season due to coronavirus, a championship match which will finally be rescheduled, the reunion this time took place between Pirlo and Gattuso, the first face to face as coaches after having been together world champions with Italy in 2006 and won two Scudetti and two Champions Leagues with AC Milan.

Pirlo and Gattuso who are, on the edge of the lawn, as they were on the ground: in restraint but precise in his instructions for the "Maestro", eruptive for the Neapolitan, several times called to order to be out of the area reserved for technicians.

But the Turin coach was not there to amuse himself with the jokes of his former friend: he had demanded a reaction after the non-match against Inter Milan (0-2) on Sunday.

And he will have had it ... but only after the first 45 minutes of an endless round of observation, on a very average lawn that an army of gardeners tried to stabilize until kick-off.

- Ronaldo's paw -

The Turinese initially rather held the ball in the first period but without being really dangerous.

The Neapolitans have been more direct.

And if they negotiated badly one against or two, they also had the best opportunity of the first period.

Szczesny had to pull out all the stops on a point blank header from Hirving Lozano (28th).

Pirlo may have changed the men compared to the defeat in Milan, his team was still struggling in the middle, only the returning Juan Cuadrado, just out of quarantine for coronavirus, finding flaws on the right.

From the resumption, the Turin coach therefore changed things by launching Federico Bernardeschi instead of Chiesa, transparent.

Winning choice because loopholes would finally open.

Naples retreated in the face of a Juve finally more pressing.

Cristiano Ronaldo, with a kick, first missed the target by nothing (55th).

But the Portuguese would not miss the next opportunity.

On a corner, Tiémoué Bakayoko inadvertently deflected the ball towards Ronaldo, totally alone, who did not need to be asked to score his 20th goal of the season (64th).

Naples will have had the opportunities to snatch extra time but it was also the evening of Sczesny, who first saw Insigne take his penalty next to (80th), then released a new big save in added time.

Naples was stunned and Morata, against, was going to validate the first title of Pirlo coach.

© 2021 AFP