The 2022 Coppa Italia semi-final first legs promised plenty, with four of the best teams in Italy’s top flight coming together, but delivered little and just one goal, as Juventus took a rather fortunate initiative.
Both ties were competitive and dominated by the home sides as first the Milan derby ended in a goalless stalemate, before Fiorentina and Juventus met on Wednesday night. Milan will feel they should have won their tie but la Viola can feel very unlucky not to take a lead to Turin, and they actually head north with a deficit .
Juventus commit daylight robbery
Totally dominated by their hosts for 90 minutes, Juventus somehow came away with a 1-0 win thanks to an injury time own goal.
This fixture always has a little more spice because of the number of Viola stars who have switched from Fiorentina to Juventus in recent seasons; and the pre-match Coppa Italia 2022 news focussed on the form of Bianconeri striker Dusan Vlahovic and his stunning form since making the move. But he didn’t have a sniff in the first half of this tie as la Viola totally dominated proceedings, registering nine shots and three on target as not one Juve player had a single shot on goal.
Former Milan midfielder Giacomo Bonaventura forced the save of the half from Juventus keeper Mattia Perin, firing a low shot from outside the penalty area which the stopper did well keep out of the bottom left corner. In the second half la Viola came within inches of a breakthrough when Jonathan Ikone crashed a shot against the post on 48 minutes and then, five minutes later he was denied by a brilliant save from Perin low to his right. Cristiano Biraghi was the next to test Perin and then, on the hour, the Old Lady finally had an effort when Matthijs de Ligt connected with a Juan Cuadrado corner but his header flew wide, and Danilo flicked his header wide when another opportunity came.
Then, on 91 minutes Lorenzo Venuti put through his own net to give the Old Lady a hardly deserved victory
With 20 shots to six, and six to one on target, la Viola will hope their big chance has not slipped away.
Milan clubs can’t buy a win
Tuesday night saw the coming together of Milan’s finest, AC and Inter. The Coppa Italia 2022 betting odds predicted the Coppa winner is likely to come from this tie, though Juve and Fiorentina might beg to differ. But we are no nearer to discovering which Milan team will be in the final as neither managed to take the initiative in the first leg. The 0-0 draw means that Inter Milan are winless in five games while AC are without a victory in three.
For two teams pushing for Scudetto glory that’s a pretty worrying statistic and the Rossoneri will be particularly frustrated having wasted some good chances. Milan won the shot count by 13 to seven and three to two on target, and their first big opportunity came with just ten minutes on the clock. Alexis Saelemaekers did well to steal possession and then unleash a fierce shot which Inter keeper Samir Handanovic could only punch clear. Then wing back Theo Hernandez took a pass from Olivier Giroud and saw his low strike clip the outside of the post.
Rafael Leao was lively and forced Handanovic into a couple of fine saves and while head coach Stefano Pioli rang the changes, bringing on winger Ante Rebic and striker Brahim Diaz, Milan could not break through.
So the Milan giants will meet again in two weeks time when Inter are the hosts and we can expect an equally tight affair.
And now back to Serie A
All four clubs are in league action at the weekend with big games, three are chasing the Scudetto while the other has ambitions of qualifying for the Champions League.
Milan’s failure to beat bottom club Salernitana a couple of weeks ago put a serious dent in I Rossoneri’s title hopes, and this weekend, on Friday, Inter Milan face the bottom club and surely that will be a chance for them to find a long-awaited victory. Simone Inzaghi’s side have dropped to third place, two points behind Milan and leaders Napoli but with a game in hand.
Milan have a top two clash away to Napoli to prepare for and that could present a chance for Pioli’s team to take the initiative again or, if they lose, slip off the pace. Here at SBOTOP we’ll be previewing that game so check back in to find all the pre-match news and stats.
As the leaders have faltered Juventus are back in the hunt, now just seven points off the top and they are at home to 16th placed Spezia. Meanwhile Fiorentina host Hellas Verona in an eighth versus ninth meeting with both team within a three points of a Europa place.
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