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Juventus and Napoli play the Supercup in Doha

The Supercup these two teams played in 2012 was really controversial, so the fans have high expectations from this one

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The last year's champion Juventus and the Cup winner Napoli will play the Italian Supercup match on the Jassim Bin Hamad stadium in Doha. Judging by their last direct duel in the Supercup 2012, this will be a very interesting game. Then, Juventus won the trophy with lots of controversies about the referees and their decisions, even though Napoli were ahead twice in the game. Juventus evened out thanks to Vidal's goal from the penalty kick, and in the overtime, Torino team easily dealt with Napoli who lost two players to red cards at the end of the regular part of the game. The referee Mazzoleni even sent the coach Mazzarri off then. It was a match that's still talked about in Torino and Napoli, so the referee Valerio certainly won't have an easy job in Doha today. 

Both teams played their last championship games of 2014 on Thursday when Juventus defeated Cagliari on Sardinia, and Napoli defeated Parma at home on San Paolo. Juventus knew how to use the space the offensively oriented Cagliari allow their opponents, and with two early goals, Allegri's team made the match winner obvious quickly. Napoli dealt with Parma in a similar fashion, got two goal advantage in the first half-time, and easily kept it till the end. Even though those matches were played only four days ago, neither Juventus nor Napoli's players got tired playing them. Both are used to playing three games a week considering they have successful episodes in Europe, in Champions League and Europa League. 

Allegri's hoping to win his first trophy in Juventus: 

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- After we stayed the first in the Serie A, and got to the round of sixteen in the Champions League, the Supercup is our third goal this season. It won't be easy because Napoli have great qualities. It's hard to play against them, especially because only one game is played. We can't start on the wrong foot. The team are in a good form and got back to winning in Cagliari. In the finals, anything can happen. We've got a lot of respect to Napoli, but want to bring the trophy home.

Unlike Allegri who enjoys Juventus's great season beginning, Benitez's coaching position has been questioned a few times this season already. This game is really important to him because a trophy would give him a chance to come to the good side of the controversial club president De Laurentis. Napoli didn't manage to get placed to the Champions League this season, and didn't really manage to stand as a decent rival to Juventus and Roma in the fight for the Italian champion title.

Benitez is aware this game could bring him calmness at the beginning of 2015:

- This match is important for the club and for the fans, and we want to win. Juventus are ahead of us in the championship, but what's worth is the desire to win, the mentality and the intensity. We're focused on this game, have respect for our opponents, but we know how strong we are. The stadium will be full, but the players know in their heads and their hearts that our fans won't be there, as much as we wanted them to. These are the finals, so we don't have to motivate the players extra, the game is motivational as it is.

As for the lineup, both coaches should use the same lineups they used in the last games. Juventus should play the 4-3-1-2 formation, used by Allegri quite often lately. The center back duo will consist of Chiellini and Bonucci who had suspension problems in the championship in the last weeks. The playmaker should be Vidal, followed by Pirlo, Pogba, and Marchisi, and Tevez and Llorente should lead the offense.

For Napoli, the injured back Zuniga, and the wing forwards Michu and Isigne are still out. Even though the press suggest that Benitez should use Higuain and Zapata from the first minute, he's not expected to change his favorite 4-2-3-1 formation. Mertens, Hamšik and Callejon are expected behind the center forward Higuain, while it's questionable who'll play in the center midfield because with Inler and David Lopez, Gargano and Jorginho are hoping to play from the first minute.