The Bianconere are through to the Coppa Italia semi-finals after goals, from Barbara Bonansea, Cristiana Girelli, Linda Sembrant and an Andrea Staskova brace sealed a 5-0 second leg win over Empoli Ladies, following the incredible 5-4 first leg triumph for Juventus Women two weeks prior.
It was the third-successive Juve-Empoli following the cup first leg and Serie A meeting at the weekend and the game began with the Bianconere on the front foot. After teeing up Lina Hurtig for the game’s first chance on 16 minutes, it was Barbara Bonansea herself who fired Juve in front just five minutes later. A corner kick saw the ball fall to the forward who let rip on the volley to bury her strike into the back of the Empoli net and make it 1-0 in Turin.
Juve continued to push forward and the lively Hurtig earned her side a penalty on 30 minutes after she was taken down by Fedele in the box. Cristiana Girelli stepped up and made no mistake with spot kick, scoring her 50th goal in Bianconera to double Juve’s lead.
Into the second half and Rita Guarino’s girls continued their relentlessness, as skipper, Sara Gama went close on a corner but again Fedele just denied the effort. On 50 minutes, Empoli tried to get themselves back into the tie with Melissa Bellucci’s strike but Laura Giuliani was equal to it. After one hour of play it was 3-0 and Juve were truly in command of the tie. Valentina Cernoia’s free-kick was put into the Empoli box and the Swede, Linda Sembrant was at the back post to tap in.
With 10 minutes to go Juventus made it four, as Martina Rosucci’s deflected strike rattled the woodwork and with the ball falling kindly to substitute, Andrea Staskova, all the Czech forward had to do was pick her spot to score from close range. Staskova wasn’t done there and on 90 minutes she was again in the right place, at the right time, as Hurtig’s mazy run had her finish cleared off the line by the Empoli defence only into the path of Staskova to tap in to seal a 5-0 victory, (10-4 on aggregate) for Juventus Women.
Juventus Women will face the winners of Roma-Florentia in the Coppa Italia semi-finals.