While it was the visitors who made the brighter start, spurred on by the foot soldiers in coach Walter Novellino’s travelling army, Esnaider snuffed out any murmurings of an upset by heading a Daniel Fonseca cross beyond the despairing reach of Napoli keeper Ferdinando Coppola.

If Napoli, fighting for promotion from the elephants’ graveyard of Serie B, were enjoying a belated return to the big time, Esnaider made the most of a rare opportunity to display the qualities that once made him one of the hottest properties on the Spanish football scene. And if it was vindication of a talent purportedly on the wane that he was after, his deliverance was swift in coming.

This was only the second goal of the Argentine striker’s Juve career, and mirroring the fortunes of that other largely redundant attacking force, Darko Kovacevic, both have come in cup competition.

Following on from a sluggish opening, when early Napoli pressure yielded a series of corners, Esnaider’s opening goal almost had an instant sequel but his effort rebounded off the angle of post and crossbar. Up until this point, the initiative was with a Napoli side determined to overcome the handicap of their 3-1 home defeat, but it was striker Stefan Schwoch who was in need of a restorative when injury forced him out of the fray on 32mins. The forward had returned from an absence of several months a fortnight ago and his loss compounded the blow of going one down. Such are the rigours of a footballing life.

Yet the rhythms of these 90 minutes became more measured after the interval. Novellino introduced Giuseppe Alessi and Francesco Turrini for Matuzalem and Gennaro Scarlato; Carlo Ancelotti Edgar Davids for Gianluca Pessotto. An increase in tempo saw Esnaider waste a chance for the second, and Gianluca Zambrotta in equally profligate mood after Coppola’s fine save from Fonseca.

Napoli’s sphere of operations was withdrawing deeper and deeper into the Sky Blue half, but the hard-working Claudio Bellucci and Anselmo Robbiati were both denied their moment of glory by Edwin Van der Sar.

On 68mins, youth team player Marco Rigoni replaced Fonseca, for whom this had proved a reaffirming experience after so much injury heartache. The switch allowed Esnaider to push up alongside Kovacevic, but only Sunday Oliseh threatened to embellish an aggregate score of 4-1 with a sequence of shots from long range.