A fatal four-way is in order for this season’s Coppa Italia crown as Juventus, Inter Milan, Napoli, and Atalanta are the only teams left standing.
Defending Serie A champions Juventus have already kickstarted the semifinals festivities with a vital win in the first leg against bitter rivals Inter Milan, while the first leg between Napoli and Atalanta will happen tomorrow at the Stadio San Paolo.
A look at the latest Coppa Italia 2021 odds indicate that neither one of these teams are overly favoured to bring home the bacon, which means that the trophy remains up for grabs.
Can Napoli make it back-to-back this season? Will Juventus take what’s theirs since winning it the last time in 2018? Are Atalanta primed to take home their first Coppa Italia plum? Or will Inter Milan bounce back to grab their first since 2011?
These are the storylines to watch out for as the action continues to heat up. And as always, SBOTOP has you covered with the latest roundup of the Coppa Italia 2021 updates.
Juventus have one foot at the door
With five wins out of their last six matches, I Bianconeri have been firing on all cylinders.
Their only loss in January came against Inter Milan to where they were outscored 2-0, so last night’s Derby D’Italia win was a nice revenge for Andrea Pirlo’s side.
When the whistled sounded last night, Inter Milan had control and they were threatening to come away with the win.
Lautaro Martinez put his side on top with an excellent strike after a counterattack in nine minutes, and it looked like history was going to repeat itself for Juventus.
However, Juventus continued to push forward and their superstar in Cristiano Ronaldo came in to save the day.
Juventus had the chance to equalise on the 25th minute when Ashley Young pulled back Juan Cuadrado inside the box, and Cristiano Ronaldo smashed home the penalty kick after it was awarded to them by the referees.
Andrea Pirlo’s side would take the lead for good when Cristiano Ronaldo capitalised on the miscommunication between Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic and centre-back Alessandro Bastoni to slide the ball into the net on the 35th minute.
The Nerazzurri had their share of chances in the second half but they couldn’t convert as Alexis Sanchez and quarterfinals hero Christian Eriksen fluffed their lines, while Matteo Darmian was denied by Gianluigi Buffon late.
With one foot at the door, Andrea Pirlo is inclined to give some of their bench players more playing time because of the tight schedule.
They will face AS Roma on Saturday night and the second leg of the Coppa Italia semis versus Inter Milan will occur four days later.
Wojciech Szczesny, Arthur Melo, Danilo, Alvaro Morata, and Federico Chiesa are all expected to feature heavily on Saturday.
Napoli and Atalanta lock horns for an explosive clash
Defending Coppa Italia champions Napoli will face a stern test when they host Atalanta tomorrow in their first leg.
Gennaro Gattuso has been on the hot seat for some reason in Naples, and this high-profile game somehow adds more pressure on his part.
After losses against Juventus in the Super Cup and Hellas Verona in Serie A, the Partenopei bounced back nicely with convincing victories over Spezia and Parma last week.
Hirving Lozano, Matteo Politano, and Eljif Elmas have all been in fine form lately and their goals will be needed if they are to move on in the finals.
The x-factor for Napoli will be Victor Osimhen as he only appeared 10 times so far this season.
Osimhen’s shining moments in Napoli are still lacking considering his big-money transfer last summer, and a strong performance in the Coppa Italia semis could go a long way in terms of endearing himself to the Napoli faithful.
Meanwhile for Atalanta, they are looking to bounce back after last week’s Serie A loss against Lazio.
Adam Marusic gave I Biancocelesti the lead for good with a quickfire goal during the third minute, and then goals from Joaquin Correa and Vedat Muriqi iced the game.
It was an uncharacteristic performance for Atalanta considering they’ve scored six goals in their last two fixtures prior.
Furthermore, there will be no shortage of entertainment in the attacking third for this particular contest, which means that the team that will make more defencive stops should come away with the victory.
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