Mueez Ajao
– Juventus will face Inter in the Coppa Italia Final in Rome on May 11, as Federico Bernardeschi and Danilo secured another victory over Fiorentina.
– The Bianconeri won the first leg with a last-gasp Lorenzo Venuti own goal, so with the away goals rule, the Viola would go to extra time with a 1-0 victory here or qualify to face Inter in the Final with any other win.
– With that in mind, Vincenzo Italiano used an all-attack side including Jonathan Ikone in midfield. Giacomo Bonaventura and Alvaro Odriozola were carrying knocks, Nikola Milenkovic had a stomach bug and Gaetano Castrovilli out for the season.
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– Juve missed Manuel Locatelli, Arthur Melo, Weston McKennie, Kaio Jorge and Federico Chiesa, but Dusan Vlahovic faced his former teammates.
– Fiorentina almost scored in the opening minutes, Mattia Perin fumbling a corner and Arthur Cabral in an offside position accidentally charging down Lucas Torreira’s finish.
– Vlahovic pounced on an Igor error for the counter, but hesitated and Alvaro Morata was already offside by the time he released the pass.
– Morata did time it properly soon after, Vlahovic stinging Bartlomiej Dragowski’s gloves with an angled drive, then Lucas Martinez-Quarta intercepted Morata on a Vlahovic back-heel flick.
– Vlahovic sprung the offside trap and tried to dink it over Dragowski, who stood tall to block, but the goalkeeper made a howler for the goal. He flapped aimlessly at Morata’s cross, allowing Federico Bernardeschi to chest and volley into the top corner from 14 yards.
– Perin’s gloves were stung by Arthur Cabral after Mattia De Sciglio was caught napping and the full-back was booked soon after, meaning he’ll be suspended for the Final.
– After the restart, a deflected Martinez-Quarta header from a corner forced a great reaction save out of Perin, yet Denis Zakaria was denied only by the outside of the near post after combining with Vlahovic.
– Cristiano Biraghi’s free kick grazed a coat of paint off the top corner, as Fiorentina continued to dominate possession.
– Adrien Rabiot had the ball in the net on 70 minutes when he controlled a Bernardeschi cross, held off Jose Callejon and swept in from eight yards, but VAR confirmed the offside position.
– Cabral’s header was inches wide after Matthijs de Ligt did enough to put him off, Paulo Dybala was back defending on Jose Callejon and Perin used his legs to parry Riccardo Sottil’s angled drive.
– Instead, Juve finished the job in stoppages when Juan Cuadrado confused Martinez-Quarta with a series of step-overs, pulled back from the by-line and Danilo just had to sweep in from eight yards.
