Antonio Conte's team narrowly prevailed 9-8 in the shootout after Sebastiano Espositoscored a second-half goal for the visitors, cancelling out Lorenzo Lucca's early goal at 28 minutes.

The round of 16 match went directly to penalties after 90 minutes, according to Italian Cup regulations.

Cagliari's fourth penalty taker, Mattia Feliciwas the first to falter, his shot hitting the crossbar.

However, Brazilian David Neres failed to seize the match-winning opportunity as his subsequent attempt was comfortably saved by Elia Caprile.

Napoli goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic made his first save of the shootout on his tenth attempt, denying Zito Luvumbobefore Alessandro Buongiorno converted to send the home side through.

In the quarter-finals, Napoli will meet the winner of the fixture between Como and Fiorentina, scheduled for late January.

Elsewhere, Atalanta secured a 4-0 home victory against Genoa.

Inter Milan also recorded an impressive win by defeating second-tier Venezia 5-1 at the San Siro, with French international Marcus Thuram scoring twice for Cristian Chivu's squad.

The round of 16 continues on Thursday as the defending champions Bologna host Parma.