Napoli threatening to play youth team against Juventus

Coppa Italia highlights as Juventus took on Napoli in the semi-final, first leg

Napoli are threatening to play their youth team in the second leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final against Juventus in protest at first-leg refereeing decisions.

Napoli lost 3-1 in Turin on Tuesday night after Juventus striker Paulo Dybala scored two second-half penalties.

The Naples club's director Cristian Giuntoli described the performance of the referee Paolo Valeri as "shameful and damaging to all Italian football".

Image: Napoli's players argue with Paolo Valeri during first leg of Coppa Italia semi-final

Valeri awarded the hosts a penalty at the start of the second half after apparent contact between Dybala and defender Kalidou Koulibaly.

He awarded Juventus another penalty when they were leading 2-1 after former Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina brought down ex-Chelsea winger Juan Cuadrado.

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Napoli feel television replays proved Reina touched the ball before the Colombia winger was upended.

Image: Paulo Dybala scores his contentious second goal penalty from the spot

They also believe they should have been awarded a penalty seconds earlier when Raul Albiol went down in the opposition's penalty area.

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Napoli's mayor Luigi De Magistris then became involved in the controversy, releasing a statement which said: "Yesterday in Turin we suffered once again from an injustice, a game that was full of, and influenced by, repeated refereeing mistakes. It was a disgrace on top of disgrace."

The second leg in Naples is live on Sky Sports 2, on Wednesday, April 5 at 7.45pm.

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