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This day in Juventus history: A Supercoppa won without a coach
Mirco Vucinic of Juventus celebrates his goal against SSC Napoli during their Supercoppa football match at China's National Stadium, also known as the 'Bird's Nest', in Beijing on August 11, 2012. Juventus beat Napoli 4-2. AFP PHOTO/Ed Jones (Photo credit should read Ed Jones/AFP/GettyImages) | AFP via Getty ImagesOn this day in 2012, Juventus won one of the strangest trophies in recent club history and did it without the manager whod just won them the Scudetto.The backdrop: Juve had beaten Napoli to the title in 2011-12, but Napoli got their revenge in the Coppa Italia final that May, winning 2-0 to deny Juve the double. The two sides met again in August for the Supercoppa Italiana, this time in Beijing of all places 75,000 fans packed into the Birds Nest for a curtain-raiser nobody in Turin expected to be this dramatic.Then, the day before the match, Antonio Conte was hit with a 10-month ban over failure to report suspected match-fixing from his Siena days. His assistant, Massimo Carrera, was suddenly thrown into his first game in charge with basically zero preparation time. Not exactly the ideal buildup.And for a while, it looked like the chaos might cost them. Napoli came out sharp. Cavani scored in the 27th minute, Asamoah equalized for Juve in the 37th, then Pandev put Napoli back ahead right before halftime. Juve were down 2-1 at the break in a match their interim coach had zero time to prepare for.But Vidal converted a penalty in the 73rd to force extra time, and thats when things fell apart for Napoli they finished the match with nine men after Pandev saw red in the 85th and Ziga picked up a second yellow in stoppage time (Napoli coach Mazzarri got sent off too). Christian Maggios own goal in the 97th and a Vuini finish in the 101st sealed it, 4-2.I think its a fun one to remember mostly because of how little business it looked like Juve had winning it new coach, short bench, down a goal at the half and they found a way anyway.
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