Juventus were dominant in their quarter final Coppa tie, sweeping aside Roma 3-0 on a night that saw Alessandro Del Piero score his first goal at the new Stadium.
Despite not being in Europe this season, Coach Conte opted to rotate his squad, bringing Marco Borriello, Alex Del Piero, Marcelo Estigarribia and Emanuele Giaccherini into the starting lineup. Roma were without Pablo Osvaldo and Daniele De Rossi so Franceso Totti, Erik Lamela and Bojan started in an attacking trident.
It didn't take long for Juventus to exert their dominance and they were ahead after just 6 minutes as Giaccherini latched onto a perfect through ball from defender Barzagli to place his angled finish beyond Stekelenburg.
Marco Storari was called into action to smother the ball at Miralem Pjanic’s feet after the Bosnian was played through by Lamela while moments later, Simon Kjaer's header went just over the bar.
Captain Alessandro Del Piero doubled the Juventus lead with a simply stunning goal. It was goal that was absolute vintage 'alla Del Piero' as the forward cut back past his marker to find some space on the edge of the box before curling his sumptuous effort into the top corner.
Fernando Gago's long range effort was safely beaten away by Storari while at the other end, Estigarribia could only fire into the side netting after being sent clear on goal by Marrone's brilliant pass.
Roma pushed forward and Pjanic's free kick just skimmed the upright while Bonucci was lucky not to deflect Rodrigo Taddei's cross into his own goal. Taddei went close himself when his blasted effort stung Storari's palms.
The palpable tension came to a head on 68 minutes when Erik Lamela was sent off. Replays show the Argentine youngster clearly kicking out at Giorgio Chiellini prompting the assistant to advise the referee to show a straight red.
Juventus made it 3-0 in the final minute as Quagliarella sprung the offside trap and rolled a cross for Matri but Kjaer's attempt to intervene saw the defender turn the ball into his own net. |