Juventus scraped through to the Coppa Italia Final despite a 2-1 defeat to Lazio, as Arkadiusz Milik came off the bench to snatch a 3-2 aggregate lead.
The first leg ended 2-0 in Turin with Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic goals, but Federico Gatti was suspended with Moise Kean and Mattia De Sciglio injured. The hosts got Alessio Romagnoli and Matteo Guendouzi back, though Ciro Immobile was still not fully fit, Ivan Provedel and Daichi Kamada out of action.
It was an ideal start for the Biancocelesti, because after Andrea Cambiaso drilled wide, the deadlock was broken by Taty Castellanos towering over the ineffective Alex Sandro to nod in a Luis Alberto corner. That immediately halved the aggregate advantage.
Juve had a great team move with Adrien Rabiot’s dinked ball over the top for Chiesa to chest and volley across, but Christos Mandas made a remarkable reaction save on Vlahovic with his leg from point-blank range.
Gleison Bremer should’ve done better when turning a free header over on a corner, while Manuel Locatelli was booked and will be suspended for the Final against either Atalanta or Fiorentina on May 15.
Lazio almost equalised on the stroke of half-time, as Mattia Perin rushed out and used his body to close down Castellanos when sent clear on goal by Luis Alberto.
They did get it level on aggregate at the dawn of the second half with a well-worked move, as Felipe Anderson placed a through ball from the centre-circle, Luis Alberto flicked it on first time for Castellanos, who shrugged off Bremer to sweep in from just inside the penalty area.
Juve threatened twice in quick succession, as first Weston McKennie rolled across for what would’ve been a Vlahovic tap-in if not for the desperate Adam Marusic tackle on the line, then Vlahovic’s angled drive skimmed the far post.
Castellanos was glad the offside flag went up after his weak lob into the arms of Perin, while for all Juve’s possession in the second half, the shots on goal were Marusic and Luis Alberto straight at the goalkeeper.
Juve’s bench made the difference, as Arek Milik came on and with his first touch managed to put them in front on aggregate. Another substitute, Timothy Weah, gathered Filip Kostic’s cross at the back post down the right and his cross-shot was tapped in by Milik, who was more alert than Romagnoli from five yards.
Source – Coppa Italia | Lazio 2-1 Juventus | Milik rescues Bianconeri (football-italia.net)
