Lobotka miss sends Napoli crashing out of Coppa Italia
Napoli crashed out of the Coppa Italia at the quarter-final stage, losing 7-6 to Cesc Fabregas's Como in a dramatic penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes.
Stanislav Lobotka was the villain for last season's Scudetto holder after the shoot-out went to sudden death, with Jean Butez guessing right to parry his kick and send Como to its first semi-final in 40 years.
Como was comfortably the better team in the first half and went ahead through Martin Baturina's 39th-minute penalty, which was awarded after Mathias Olivera fouled Ivan Smolcic as the full-back attempted to turn home a cross at the far post.
Napoli levelled just 44 seconds into the second half, however, as Antonio Vergara raced onto Rasmus Hojlund's flick-on before finishing calmly.
Nico Paz came up with a vital clearance in front of his own goal to deny Napoli a winner, while Vanja Milinkovic-Savic had to stay alert to deny Mergim Vojvoda at the other end.
With the teams forced to settle for spot-kicks, Romelu Lukaku blinked first with a terrible effort that flew wide of the right post, though Milinkovic-Savic denied Maximo Perrone to keep Napoli in it.
But after a run of eight successful kicks – including a Milinkovic-Savic attempt that struck the crossbar, the back of Butez's head and the post before settling in the net – the Como goalkeeper dived right to deny Lobotka and seal victory for his team.
