The first leg in the Coppa semi-final offered one thing above all: bold attacking football from AC Florence. However, the Tuscans failed to score in their clash with Juventus on the return of the booed Vlahovic. It was a different story for the cool-headed Old Lady, who silenced the stadium just before the end.
An own goal is always bitter, but this one weighed particularly heavily: When Venuti, who had only just come on as a substitute in this Coppa semi-final, accidentally cleared Cuadrado’s sharp cross into his own goal without an opponent behind him, injury time was already running (90.+1). The score was 0:1 from the point of view of AC Florence, who of course still have the second leg at Juventus in mid-April to look forward to.
Never the less, the face of Venuti, the unfortunate purple player, showed how untimely this goal was.
In the end, the Viola made the game throughout at home to Artemio Franchi. Bold attacking football was paired with robust and highly focused defensive work, which was felt by Vlahovic in particular. The winter newcomer and 70-million-euro man, who was always met with whistles and catcalls on his return to his former club, did not have an easy time against Milenkovic and Igor. And yet it was the Serb, who is no longer so welcome in Florence, who could have made it 1:0. With a cheeky lob, the Juve target failed to beat the well-reacted AC keeper Terracciano (56.).
Ikoné should be most annoyed
But the 1:0 would not have been deserved here – and also not later shortly before the end of the game via an own goal. The Bianconeri were guilty of a lot offensively, concentrating almost exclusively on defensive work and were themselves often in league with luck or goalkeeper Perin.
Saponara (6th), Bonaventura (14th and 18th) and Ikoné (26th) failed to score. The latter even missed the top opportunity par excellence, failing to score in front of the almost empty goal with a shot to the top left of the post (48th). On top of that, Biraghi also missed (58th), while Joker Cuadrado at least came close for Juventus (78th). Cuadrado would have his moment, however, in the first minute of stoppage time, when he provided the assist for Venuti to make it 1:0.
