Doha delight for Supercoppa Italiana between Juve and Napoli

When Juventus and Napoli last met with the Supercoppa Italiana on the line in August 2012, it took extra time to separate them following a 2-2 draw in 90 minutes.

Coral make the Old Lady odds-on 10/11 favourites to win this one-off match between the Serie A champions and Italian cup winners without needing an additional half hour. A draw in 90 minutes again comes in 11/5, and Rafa Benitez’s boys are 5/2 match outsiders in Doha.

This Super Cup clash has been moved from its traditional August slot to mark the start of the winter break in Italian football. Domestic league action will resume in January.

Allegri will be targeting his first trophy since taking over the Turin giants from Antonio Conte, who now coaches the national team. Benitez, meanwhile, will want to build on the silverware success of lifting the Coppa Italia in May.

Juve boss Allegri won this Italian equivalent of the Community Shield when he was in charge at AC Milan back in 2011. Recent meetings between the Old Lady and Napoli suggest goals will come from midfield or wide areas.

Respective attacks in Qatar should be spearheaded by Argentina international teammates Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez. It’s the latter, recently recalled by La Albiceleste boss Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino, who leads the Serie A scoring charts with 10 this term.

Higuain is not behind Tevez, however, with seven, and the gap of three goals difference is the same across all compeitions with their respective totals of 10 and 13.

Napoli winger Jose Callejon remains on a goal drought, but Colombia attackr Duvan Zapata is supplementing Higuain nicely at the moment. For Juventus, a run of three straight draws ended with victory over Cagliari last time out and Chile’s box-to-box star Arturo Vidal was among those on target.

Punters can expect an open contest in Doha, so why not back Juve to win and both teams to score at 16/5? Those odds are far more attractive than the outright match winner betting.