Pizza, beer and soccer, with closed stadiums Italian fans cheer from restaurants
SHOWS:
NAPLES, ITALY (JUNE 17, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)
1. VARIOUS OF STREET STALL SELLING NAPOLI SCARFS AND FLAGS
2. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) NAPOLI FAN, DOMENICO BUONOCORE, SAYING:
"This type of match is always difficult as Juventus is a winning team, but we trust Napoli players and we hope that everything will go well."
3. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) NAPOLI FAN, FRANCESCO OLMO, SAYING:
"Result? 2-1 for Napoli because we should win the Coppa Italia. From a physical point of view, Napoli is better than Juventus."
4. VARIOUS OF NAPOLI FANS WATCHING THE MATCH IN RESTAURANTS, MANY WITH PIZZA AND BEER
TURIN, ITALY (JUNE 17, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)
5. JUVENTUS FAN WEARING PROTECTIVE MASK USING HAND SANITISER
6. JUVENTUS FAN WALKING INSIDE PUB
7. JUVENTUS FAN, CHRISTIAN INGARSIA, USING HAND SANITISER
8. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) JUVENTUS FAN, CHRISTIAN INGARSIA, AND JOURNALIST SAYING:
JOURNALIST ASKING: "A final with the coronavirus, is there still excitement?"
JUVENTUS FAN SAYING: "We needed it. I would have preferred to watch it at the stadium but we are in a nice place, in good company with friends, so it's fine."
9. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) JUVENTUS FAN, GIUSEPPE NIGRO, AND JOURNALIST SAYING:
"I've been going to the stadium for twenty years. We really miss the stadium. We miss our stands, the excitement, the colours, the cheers, but we are satisfied."
JOURNALIST ASKING: "If you will, will you celebrate?"
NIGRO SAYING: "We are already celebrating"
10. JUVENTUS FANS MAKING A TOAST AND SHOUTING (Italian) "GO JUVE!"
STORY: With the stadiums closed due to the restrictions of the new coronavirus, Italians on Wednesday (June 17) combined their two greatest passions ahead of Coppa Italia final: food and football.
Napoli supporters crowded restaurants and watched their side face coach Maurizio Sarri's Juventus while enjoying a pizza wearing the shirts of their beloved champions. Fans hope Napoli coach Gennaro Gattuso will claim the first title of his coaching career, and show that he brings more to the bench than just his famous grit and determination.
"This type of match is always difficult as Juventus is a winning team but we trust Napoli players and we hope that everything will go well," supermarket clerk - and Napoli fan - Francesco Olmo told Reuters.
"Result? 2-1 for Napoli because we should win the Coppa Italia," his colleague Domenico Buonocore added. "From a physical point of view, Napoli is better than Juventus."
Sarri is eyeing his first Italian trophy and the first of what he hopes will be many conquests at the helm of the team which has dominated Italian football for the best part of a decade.
But even if Juventus have dominated Italian football for the last decade and its supporters are used to winning trophies, watching a final in a pub is not the same that in a stadium
"I would have preferred to watch it at the stadium but we are in a nice place, in good company with friends, so it's fine," Juventus fan Christian Ingarsia said.
"We really miss the stadium. We miss our stands, the excitement, the colours, the cheers, but we are satisfied," Giuseppe Nigro added.
The Coppa Italia will be the first title to be settled in the current Italian season, which has just resumed after a three-month coronavirus stoppage. Wednesday's match will be played behind closed doors at Rome's Stadio Olimpico (1900 GMT).
The closing stages of the Coppa Italia are acting as a prelude to the remainder of the Serie A season, which restarts after a three-month hiatus on Saturday (June 20).
