Juve up and running in the Coppa Italia

It was mission accomplished as Juventus kicked off their Coppa Italia campaign with a 4-0 win over Cagliari and booked their place in the Cup quarter-finals.

Dangerous start

Cagliari came out the blocks quickly: in the 2nd minute, Nadir Zortea’s accurate cross found Gianluca Lapadula, but his shot was blocked by Michele Di Gregorio. Despite the visitors’ strong showing in the early stages, Juventus reorganised and responded in the 14th minute, as Weston McKennie and Teun Koopmeiners linked up well before the latter played in Dusan Vlahovic, but the Serbian’s effort from a difficult angle went over.

Juve carved open another opening on 26 minutes, as Francisco Conceicao lit up the stadium with a series of feints and a perfect cross for Nicolo Savona, but he was unable to direct the ball goalwards. Again, in the 28th minute, Conceicao tried his luck with a left-footed effort from the edge of the box, which went just past the post. Cagliari responded in the 29th minute, but Lapadula could only head Gianluca Gaetano’s cross against the crossbar.

The Bianconeri continued to press and in the 43rd minute earned their reward. Kenan Yildiz broke down the left and slid in a pass to Vlahovic, who produced a classic centre forward’s finish past Simone Scuffet to give Juve a 1-0 lead.

Juve in control

Cagliari started the second half on the offensive: in the 47th minute, Lapadula came close to restoring parity with a header from another Gaetano cross, but his effort couldn’t find the target. In the 52nd minute, Juve struck again. Koopmeiners made it 2-0 as he stepped up to curl a pinpoint left-footed free-kick past Scuffet from the edge of the box.

In the 55th minute, Vlahovic thought he had added a third with a delightful dink, but it was ruled out for offside. Juventus continued on the front foot and, in the 62nd minute, the irrepressible Conceicao caused havoc in the Cagliari defence: first seeing another shot blocked by Scuffet, before putting another just wide.

Shortly after, in the 66th minute, Conceicao unleashed another powerful effort, but the Cagliari defence managed to avert the danger.

Bianconeri see out the game

It was all Juve after the restart: in the 72nd minute, Vlahovic nodded in following a shot from Conceicao but, again, the goal was ruled out for offside. Cagliari tried to rally through Paulo Azzi in the 73rd minute, but his shot from the edge of the box went over the bar.

As the game drew to a close, the Bianconeri dominated, scoring two superb goals to add gloss to the score. The first came from Chico Conceicao in the 79th minute, as he produced an excellent angled shot into the bottom corner, having ghosted past Jose Luis Palomino, while ten minutes later Nico Gonzalez capped a solo counter-attack with a fine lob to add a fourth.

4-0 to Juve, and the Coppa Italia adventure will continue against Empoli in the quarter-finals.

JUVENTUS 4-0 CAGLIARI

Scorers: 44′ Vlahovic; 53′ Koopmeiners; 80′ Conceicao; 89′ Nico Gonzalez

Juventus: Di Gregorio; Savona, Locatelli, Kalulu, McKennie; Koopmeiners (58′ Gatti), Thuram; Conceicao (81′ Adzic), Yildiz (66′ Nico Gonzalez), Mbangula; Vlahovic (81′ Weah). Unused substitutes: Perin, Pinsoglio, Danilo, Fagioli. Coach: Thiago Motta

Cagliari: Scuffet; Zappa (69′ Azzi), Palomino, Wieteska, Augello; Zortea, Marin (58′ Felici), Prati, Deiola (82′ Adopo); Gaetano (69′ Piccoli); Lapadula (69′ Pavoletti). Unused substitutes: Sherri, Ciocci, Luperto, Viola, Mina, Makoumbou, Vinciguerra, Mutandwa. Coach: Nicola