Penalty heroics ´no problem´ for Milinkovic-Savic as Napoli advance

Vanja Milinkovic-Savic was comfortable with his role as Napoli’s penalty hero after scoring in the shoot-out against Cagliari before making the match-winning save.

Napoli needed spot-kicks to advance through the round of 16 in the Coppa Italia after a 1-1 draw on Wednesday, with Sebastiano Esposito having cancelled out Lorenzo Lucca’s first-half opener.

David Neres passed up an opportunity to win the tie when his penalty was saved, meaning the shoot-out reached sudden death.

Goalkeeper Milinkovic-Savic stepped up and dispatched a thunderous effort from 12 yards, before his stop from Zito Luvumbo allowed Alessandro Buongiorno to clinch a 9-8 success.

Milinkovic-Savic was Napoli’s seventh taker, volunteering ahead of several outfield team-mates, but he was unperturbed by the pressure situation.

“I only train to save penalties, not take them. We’ve got some good players from the spot,” he told Sport Mediaset.

“But if I am needed, then I have no problem taking them, too.”

Full time: #NapoliCagliari 1-1 (9-8 on penalties)

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— Official SSC Napoli (@en_sscnapoli) December 3, 2025

It was the length of the shoot-out rather than the requirement to take a penalty that Milinkovic-Savic noted afterwards.

“I’d never experienced a shoot-out with 10 penalties before,” he said. “It was a big strange.

“The important thing is that we got through to the next round.”