Højlund fires Napoli past Milan in Supercoppa semi

A goal by Rasmus Højlund helped Napoli bounce back from consecutive defeats to book a place in the Italian Supercoppa final with a 2-0 victory over AC Milan.

Serie A champions Napoli had been rocked by surprise losses to Benfica and Udinese before they arrived in Riyadh for another edition of the mid-season tournament.

AC Milan were Supercoppa holders, but David Neres broke the deadlock in the 39th-minute and Manchester United loanee Højlund sealed the victory with a second 18 minutes into the second half to book Napoli a spot in Monday's final.

The form of Massimiliano Allegri's Milan had also been inconsistent with dropped points against Sassuolo and a Coppa Italia exit to Lazio at the start of December.

With fit-again Romelu Lukaku only named on the bench, Højlund was granted another opportunity to lead the line, but Milan made the stronger start, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek unable to make the most of a decent chance early on.

Neres responded for Napoli with his own effort before Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan was almost punished for a lapse of concentration at a corner.

After Scott McTominay went close for Napoli next, the four-time Scudetto winners opened the scoring with six minutes of the first half left.

Moments after Christopher Nkunku fired over, Conte's men broke forward and Højlund's spin-and-shot was parried out into a dangerous area by Maignan and Neres was on hand to slide home.

Neres celebrated with Lukaku on the touchline and it was nearly 2-0 before the break, but Maignan denied Højlund.

Maignan's difficult night almost took another turn when VAR had to check his challenge on Matteo Politano, but no punishment was forthcoming.

However, with 63 minutes played, Højlund got the better of Maignan with a superb finish from a tight angle to double Napoli's lead.

Frustration started to boil over as the contest got away from Milan with McTominay and Fikayo Tomori were both cautioned after a coming together.

McTominay almost had an immediate last laugh only to fire off target after a slick counter-attack, but it failed to stop Napoli from progressing into the final where they will face Inter Milan or Bologna.