Coppa Italia SF | Juventus 2-0 Lazio: Old Lady revitalised

Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic gave Juventus a much-needed 2-0 victory in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final against Igor Tudor’s Lazio.

These teams met in Serie A on Saturday, with Adam Marusic’s last-gasp header sealing victory on coach Tudor’s debut. Vlahovic was suspended for that game and returned here, while Pedro and Luca Pellegrini sat out bans for the visitors. Arkadiusz Milik, Ivan Provedel, Manuel Lazzari and Nicolò Rovella were on the treatment table.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

It was a dramatic start to the match, because Mattia Zaccagni landed badly after a Federico Gatti sliding tackle, so while he was off the field, Juventus were awarded a penalty. Matias Vecino didn’t realise Andrea Cambiaso was sneaking up behind him and when he went to clear the loose ball, ended up kicking the player instead. However, it was revoked following a VAR On-Field Review because Cambiaso was judged to be in an offside position in the build-up.

Gatti was booked for a challenge on Gustav Isaksen and will be suspended for the second leg on April 23, but Luis Alberto was unlucky not to give Lazio the lead when his looping header bounced off the crossbar from a Patric cross.

Adrien Rabiot’s volley from outside the box was straight into the arms of Christos Mandas, but Juventus broke the deadlock after the restart.

Cambiaso timed the through ball perfectly to send Chiesa running down the centre and he kept his cool to sweep it into the far bottom corner with the inside of the right boot.

Clinical from Juve! ⚫⚪

A stunning pass to split the Lazio defence and a ruthless finish from Federico Chiesa 👏 pic.twitter.com/cUrxwLyRNG

— Viaplay Sports UK (@ViaplaySportsUK) April 2, 2024

Manuel Locatelli’s scorcher was deflected wide on the counter, but wouldn’t have counted as Chiesa handled in the build-up.

Juve doubled their advantage, as Weston McKennie sent Vlahovic through, the striker confused substitute Nicolò Casale with a step-over and bent it into the far bottom corner with the left foot from 12 yards.

Dusan Vlahović made that look easy! 😤

Juventus are in control of this Coppa Italia Semi-Final right now ⚫⚪ pic.twitter.com/J2LZIzpuKG

— Viaplay Sports UK (@ViaplaySportsUK) April 2, 2024

Casale did better when making a last-ditch tackle on Chiesa in the box, just about getting some studs to the ball, and on the resulting corner Gatti nodded inches wide.

There could’ve been a third when Kenan Yildiz rode two tackles to start the counter-attack, but the Timothy Weah roll across for what would’ve been a Vlahovic tap-in was intercepted by the outstretched boot of Mandas at the near post.

Juventus 2-0 Lazio

Chiesa 50 (J), Vlahovic 64 (J)