Milan: Gonzalo Higuain defiantly drew a line under his controversial move to Juventus with a brace against Napoli, picking out the president of his former club and mouthing: “It’s your fault”.
With a 3-1 lead from the first leg of their Italian Cup semifinal, Juventus travelled to Naples on Wednesday expected to secure their third consecutive final appearance.
And they did, but not before suffering a scare, going down 3-2 at an emotionally charged San Paolo to creep through 5-4 on aggregate and maintain their hopes of a treble of trophies.
As well as ending Napoli’s hopes of silverware, Higuain’s double left president Aurelio De Laurentiis looking ever more the culprit in a spat that began hours after the striker’s shock move to the Serie A champions last summer.
Despite pocketing a healthy profit when he sold Higuain to Juve for an Italian record transfer fee of 90 million euros ($96 million) De Laurentiis said the Argentine had “betrayed” Napoli.
Higuain, 29, who hit a Serie A record 36 goals in his final season with Napoli, had refused to respond to De Laurentiis’s provocation.
Until Wednesday night.
Whistled and jeered throughout a 1-1 Serie A draw at the same San Paolo ground last weekend, Higuain overcame a similarly hostile reception to give Juve a 32nd-minute lead with a superb strike from outside the area.
He made a beeline for the executive boxes, pointing his finger directly at De Laurentiis and mouthing: “E colpa tua”.
Although Napoli captain Marek Hamsik levelled for Napoli, Higuain blasted a superb second from Juan Cuadrado’s cross just five minutes later.
— AFP
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