Napoli draw Fiorentina again, this time in the Coppa Italia

Napoli already know their next Coppa Italia (Italy's cup competition) opponent, and it's one they'll have seen twice by the time the tie is played. Fiorentina booked their round of 16 place by beating Pisa 3-0 in the Tuscan derby of the previous round, completing the draw. Napoli had already gone through earlier, and the pairing sends Fiorentina to the Maradona for a single-leg knockout tie.

Long before any of those dates, the same shirt turns up again. Napoli travel to the Franchi on Sunday 20 September at 12:30 CET for matchday five of Serie A. The league and the cup don't affect each other, but the same opponent will feature twice inside a few months.

The heaviest precedent between the two sides in this competition is a final: Napoli beat Fiorentina 3-1 at the Olimpico in 2014. The two clubs go into this tie level on Coppa Italia titles, six each. Napoli's came in 1961-62, 1975-76, 1986-87, 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2019-20; Fiorentina's in 1939-40, 1960-61, 1965-66, 1974-75, 1995-96 and 2000-01. Fiorentina's last triumph in the competition was 25 years ago, under Roberto Mancini.

Win this tie and Napoli would face the winner of Atalanta-Udinese in the quarter-finals, scheduled for 3 and 10 February 2027, again over a single leg. It's worth remembering how last season's cup run ended: Napoli went out in the quarter-finals to Como on penalties, after a 1-1 draw in normal time and a 6-7 shoot-out defeat. Not a tie to treat as a formality, home leg or not.

For a side that has lost three straight matches before a narrow win over Bologna, and that plays the first of two league-and-cup meetings with Fiorentina this weekend, the Coppa Italia remains a separate front. It won't move the league table or change the verdict on Allegri's Serie A campaign, but it does offer a route to a trophy Napoli haven't lifted since 2019-20. Before that, the calendar still has to settle on one of three dates — and Napoli have to get through the double meeting with the same opponent first.