Sebastian Giovinco bagged a brace as Juventus demolished Verona 6-1 to reach the Coppa Italia quarter-finals.
The Bianconeri go on to face Parma in the next round of the tournament on January 28.
Carlos Tevez, Andrea Pirlo and Gigi Buffon were among those rested, while Arturo Vidal had tonsillitis. Simone Pepe made his first start since 2012 after just 38 minutes of football in three seasons. Hellas missed Luca Toni, Juanito Gomez Taleb, Mounir Obbadi, Artur Ionita, Bosko Jankovic and Evangelos Moras.
Sebastian Giovinco bagged a brace as Juventus demolished Verona 6-1 to reach the Coppa Italia quarter-finals.
The Bianconeri go on to face Parma in the next round of the tournament on January 28.
Carlos Tevez, Andrea Pirlo and Gigi Buffon were among those rested, while Arturo Vidal had tonsillitis. Simone Pepe made his first start since 2012 after just 38 minutes of football in three seasons. Hellas missed Luca Toni, Juanito Gomez Taleb, Mounir Obbadi, Artur Ionita, Bosko Jankovic and Evangelos Moras.
Unusually for a tie this early in the Coppa Italia, the stadium was sold out with 40,000 fans in Turin for the game.
It took just five minutes to break the deadlock, as Giovinco’s free kick surprised Rafael at the near post and the goalkeeper got a hand to it without enough strength.
Paul Pogba threatened, Rafael parried from Alvaro Morata while Guillermo Rodriguez volleyed wide from a corner.
Juventus doubled their tally with a classy finish from Roberto Pereyra, who skipped past Rodriguez down the right with his first touch and chipped the goalkeeper with the outside of his right boot. It was the ex-Udinese man’s first goal for the Turin giants.
Nico Lopez blasted a screamer wide from distance, Pepe tested Rafael at the near post and Marco Storari flew to palm a Gustavo Campanharo effort out from under the bar.
Angelo Ogbonna went off with a left ankle problem, but Giovinco completed his brace by tapping in a Stephan Lichtsteiner assist from five yards. This was the Atomic Ant’s fifth goal in the last six Coppa Italia games for Juve.
These sides will meet again here on Sunday night in Serie A and Verona will certainly be hoping for a better scoreline. Storari pushed a Nico Lopez curler over the bar, but Paul Pogba added a fourth when a ricochet fell kindly for him.
Verona did get one back, though the Rafa Marquez header from a corner appeared to be going in anyway when Nene slid on to it from a yard.
Giovinco was aiming for a hat-trick, but brought down by Marquez for a penalty as he ran on to Pogba’s assist. Alvaro Morata stepped up to convert the spot-kick.
It could easily have been more, but nobody was ready to tap in Kingsley Coman and Pereyra assists.
Coman broke his Juventus duck with a scorching strike, finding space outside the box to smash an unstoppable finish in off the underside of the bar. It was the 18-year-old Frenchman’s first goal for the club.
Juventus 6-1 Verona
Scorers: Giovinco 5, 45 (J), Pereyra 21 (J), Pogba 52 (J), Nene 57 (V), Morata pen 63 (J), Coman 79 (J)
Juventus: Storari; Lichtsteiner (Mattiello 82), Bonucci, Ogbonna (Chiellini 39), Padoin; Pepe, Marchisio, Pogba; Pereyra; Morata, Giovinco (Coman 65)
Verona: Rafael; Sorensen, Rodriguez, R Marquez, Agostini; Campanharo, Tachtsidis (Greco 65), Hallfredsson (Martic 69); Valoti; Nico Lopez (Cappelluzzo 83), Nene
Ref: Calvarese