Fiorentina coach Vincenzo Italiano accepted Napoli were superior after their Supercoppa Italiana semifinal defeat.

Napoli won 3-0, with Giovanni Simeone and a double from Alessio Zerbin securing the win, with Jonathan Kone missing a penalty for the Viola.

“We congratulate Napoli for having prepared so well for this game," Italiano told Mediaset.

“Their system surprised us, but to be honest, we do know how to play against it. We missed a penalty that would've allowed us to equalise, we tried to get it back on level terms, but made mistakes late on and that was the end of it.

“When you lose 3-0, it is only right you tip your hat to the winners."

He also said: “Ikone is one of those who can take penalties. He earned it and that gave him the confidence to take the ball in his hands, and the other penalty takers let him do it. When you earn it yourself and spend time in training practicing, it's not right to take it away from him.

“We have to put an end to this 'phobia' of penalties right now, because aside from Nico, we are missing a lot of them and losing games with these misses."

He added: “Our only objective was to get through the semi-final, and we showed for 84 minutes that we were well in the game. We had to raise the tempo and it was not easy to break down a Napoli side who focused only on defending and then going on the counter.

“Unfortunately, the sterility we struggled with before has returned. We lost, but until the 84th minute we were in the running and I really believed we could get it back on track."