Lazio Roma were on the verge of making up for their 2-0 defeat in the second leg of the Coppa semi-final against record winners Juventus and advancing to the final themselves. But then Turin’s coach made the perfect substitution
The 2:0 from the first leg of this Coppa Italia semi-final had sounded comfortable – too comfortable? It was clear that half of the lead had been used up early on in the second leg at Rome’s Olympic Stadium, where the final will also be played. After a sharp Felipe Anderson corner from the left, the actually stable Juventus defense was unable to stop striker Castellanos well enough. The attacker, who came on for Immobile, who was on the bench with a slight injury, nodded the ball into the top right-hand corner in the 12th minute. Turin keeper Perin could do nothing to stop it.
And with that, there was immediate tension in the cauldron – garnished by the Laziali in the stands, who were loudly pushing the team and had the goal on their lips for 2:0 in minute 44. But 1:0 scorer Castellanos, of all people, lost his nerve in front of Perin, whose somewhat inaccurate low shot was parried aside by the Old Lady’s goalkeeper
Vlahovic misses the equalizer
All in all, the lead at the break was fine for the Biancocelesti, who were suddenly hoping to get back into the final after all. The team, which had already developed positively in recent weeks under new coach Igor Tudor (back in contention for an international ticket in Serie A), was a tad more active, more confident and more imaginative.
But there were also chances for the Juve team led by Massimiliano Allegri, in which the two first-leg scorers Vlahovic and Chiesa again started together up front. Cambiaso first made it 1:0 for his side with a low shot (8′), before Vlahovic’s close-range effort from close range was desperately saved by Rome goalkeeper Mandas (23′) and then Bremer headed over (32′).
Allegri and Milik have the right nose
The overall impression that the men from the “Eternal City” were simply better on this cup evening did not change at the start of the second 45 minutes. On the contrary, goalscorer Castellanos made up for his mistake shortly before the break by remaining ice-cold: After a quick build-up via Felipe Anderson and Luis Alberto, the Immobile substitute was free to run through, robustly beat Bremer and finished confidently down the left to make it 2:0 – and level the overall score (48′).
From then on, however, the Turin defense regained its strength and basically did not allow anything to happen. And because Vlahovic missed the next big chances to create the important connection from Juve’s point of view (56th and 57th), the impression arose that extra time would be the logical consequence between these two teams. Particularly as the teams increasingly drew level and a number of changes hampered the flow of the game
However, Old Lady coach Max Allegri was right on the money with one of these personnel changes – namely the inclusion of former Bundesliga player Milik (Augsburg and Leverkusen). The striker, who had been absent for some time with adductor problems, came on in the closing stages of normal time (83rd) and was to score his first goal (!) in the final shortly afterwards. After a long cross from the bustling Kostic, Weah, who had also been brought on, made a pass to the right of the Roman penalty area and then rather involuntarily placed the ball right in the middle for Milik, who was ready to shoot and finished without a trace of humor (84′).
Thus, the Biancocelesti were given an ice-cold shower in front of their home crowd, from which they could not recover even with their joker Immobile – and Juve were able to celebrate a few minutes later about the Coppa final, which was endangered for a long time but ultimately reached. There, the Bianconeri will face either last year’s finalists AC Florence (1:2 against Inter) or Atalanta Bergamo. Fiorentina won 1-0 in the first match, with the second semi-final taking place on Wednesday.
