Higuaín points finger at De Laurentiis: "It's your fault!"
The Juventus striker helped deny his former side Napoli a place in the Coppa final and took the gloves off in his war of words with former employer.
Gonzalo Higuaín did not celebrate his goals for Juventus as he scored a brace against former club Napoli to see his side through to the Coppa Italia final but took the gloves off in his war of words with Napoli president Aurelio di Laurentiis, signaling the film mogul in the stands and mouthing: "It's your fault".
With a 3-1 lead from the first leg of their Italian Cup semi-final, Juventus travelled to Naples on Wednesday expected to secure their third consecutive final appearance.
And they did, but not before suffering a scare, going down 3-2 at an emotionally charged San Paolo to creep through 5-4 on aggregate and maintain their hopes of a treble of trophies.
Di Laurentiis provocation
As well as ending Napoli's hopes of silverware, Higuaín's double left president Aurelio De Laurentiis looking ever more the culprit in a spat that began hours after the striker's shock move to the Serie A champions last summer.
Despite pocketing a healthy profit when he sold Higuaín to Juve for an Italian record transfer fee of 90 million euros De Laurentiis said the Argentine had "betrayed" Napoli.
Higuaín, 29, who hit a Serie A record 36 goals in his final season with Napoli, had refused to respond to De Laurentiis's provocation until Wednesday night.
Whistled and jeered throughout a 1-1 Serie A draw at the same San Paolo ground last weekend, Higuaín overcame a similarly hostile reception to give Juve a 32nd-minute lead with a superb strike from outside the area.
Higuain: "E colpa tua"
He made a beeline for the executive boxes, pointing his finger directly at De Laurentiis and mouthing: "E colpa tua".
Although Napoli captain Marek Hamsik levelled for Napoli, Higuaín blasted a superb second from Juan Cuadrado's cross just five minutes later.
De Laurentiis lifted his eyes to the sky in resignation, a gesture not missed by Higuaín's brother and agent Nicola.
"How I love to see the face of Aurelio every time my brother scores," he wrote on Twitter. "See you next time president. Hahaha!!!"
Napoli comeback in vain
Although substitute Dries Mertens levelled for the hosts and Lorenzo Insigne added a late winner, there was little for Napoli to celebrate on Higuaín's second visit to the stadium this season.
He has now hit four goals against his former club this term, three in the cup and one in the league, to keep Juventus on course for a third consecutive league and cup double.
The gloves are now firmly off between Higuaín and Napoli's film-producing owner and the forward has launched proceedings claiming De Laurentiis owes him 600,000 euros.
Higuaín says that De Laurentiis held back dues from image rights sales and has taken his case to the league.
"I've got nothing to say," De Laurentiis responded curtly post-match when asked to give his opinion on Higuaín.
