03 January 2018
Juventus will play Atalanta in the TIM Cup semi-finals after they swept past Torino in their first match of 2018. An instinctive strike by Douglas Costa and a dinked effort from Mandzukic saw La Vecchia Signora register a 2-0 win over their crosstown rivals.
The quarter-final Derby della Mole didn’t take long to get going, as Juve went on the attack from the off and were awarded with their early perseverance in the 16th minute. A shot from Paulo Dybala was mis-cleared by the Torino defence and Douglas Costa was in the right place to lash home a first-time strike at goal to put Juve 1-0 up.
Torino nearly got back in the game straight away as a long ball up-field from Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic found its way into the path of M’baye Niang who ran onto it and hit a shot against the far post. Juve attempted to double their lead, and they went close after some fine work by Costa saw him dribble into the box and his pass to Paulo Dybala was somehow kept out by the goalkeeper.
In the second half, Juve again attacked from the off and they were close again to doubling their lead as second half substitute Stephan Lichtsteiner crossed into the box for Mandzukic and the Croatian striker saw his effort just deflect out for a corner.
The Bianconeri didn’t let up and their pressure was rewarded in the 67th minute. Mandzukic was alert as the ball ricocheted into his path and he was first to it to chip over an oncoming Milinkovic-Savic and put Juventus 2-0 up.
Great trickery from Douglas Costa played in Dybala, but La Joya’s shot that tried to catch the keeper cold at the near post just went wide as the Bianconeri looked for a third. Juve kept pouring forward to secure the result as Torino rarely threatened, but in stoppage time the Bianconeri stopped a determined Granata run into the box to ensure their clean sheet remained intact.
After seeing off Torino and winning another Derby della Mole at the Allianz Stadium this season, the Bianconeri will now face Atalanta in the TIM Cup semi-finals after they overcame Napoli last night while they return to action in Serie A on Saturday away to Cagliari in the final match before the winter break.
