Bremer's accidental goal enough for the semi-final of Coppa Italia

After two defeats and one draw in Serie A, Juve had to break the bad spell not matter in which competition and they did so tonight in Coppa Italia with a minimal score: Juventus - Lazio 1-0. With this win, the Italian giant booked himself a place in the semi-final and a two game duel with Inter Milan. Juve's victory will put a smile on their fans' faces at least for the short period of time, since gloomy days are coming and will not go away anytime soon. Since another points deduction is expected, this was probably one of the last 'normal' games, because Juventus could find themselves in relegation battle come March. Coach Allegri still decided to rest Di Maria and Paredes, while Federico Chiesa and Dušan Vlahović finally formed a striker partnership. And did nothing. Luckily for them, Lazio was even worst and basically gave away the victory due to its keeper’s mistake. Otherwise, this game would ended 0-0 after 120 minutes and the penalties would decide the winner.

Juve in relegation zone! Turin club could be fined with a 20 points deduction

Chiesa and Juan Cuadrado returned from injury, while Arkadiusz Milik, Paul Pogba, Leonardo Bonucci and Kaio Jorge were still injured. Apart from the goal, only Filip Kostic had a proper chance, but Luis Maximiano managed to tip the ball away. Juve were awful in the middle with no creativity, while Kostić and Cuadrado failed to make a proper cross, apart from the already mentioned goal. A boring first half resulted with a goal in the last minute. Lazio keeper Luis Maximiliano did a favor to Juve players with his bad reaction when Kostic crossed the ball. The goalie missed the ball and it hit Bremer in the back, so the Brazilian was an unintentional scorer.

In the second half, Lazio had to do something, but apart from a single shot on target, they only managed to win possession and keep Juve in their own half. It’s debatable if they did so by their own will or the home coach Allegri allowed it, as part of his tactics to keep the lead. Juventus threatened from the counter attacks and if by any chance Lazio equalized, Moise Kean, who came instead of ineffective Vlahovic would be to blame. The striker missed two great chances to end the game with another goal, but in the end, it is Juve who will face Inter Milan in the semi-final of the Cup. Cremonese, who surprised Roma yesterday will play with Fiorentina in another semi-final pair.

COPPA ITALIA QUARTER FINALS

Wednesday:

Fiorentina - Torino 2-1 (0-0)

/Jovic 65, Ikone 90 - Karamoh 90+3/

Roma - Cremonese 1-2 (0-1)

/Belotti 90+4 - Dessers 28, Celik 49(og)/

Thursday:

Juventus - Lazio 1-0 (1-0)

/Bremer 44)