19 April 2022
Juventus welcome Fiorentina in the return leg of the Italian Cup semi-final tomorrow, Wednesday 20 April, with a place in the showpiece final on May 11 in Rome at stake.
In the history of the competition, no club has reached the final, or lifted the trophy as often, as Juventus - 14 victories from 20 final appearances after having reached the last-four on 33 occasions.
Fiorentina, meanwhile, have reached the semi-final stage of Italy's national cup tournament 15 times, making it to the final in 10 of those attempts.
The Bianconeri enter the second leg with a narrow advantage after a 1-0 win in Florence at the beginning of March. It required a late goal to separate the two teams, precisely as in the league meeting - with Juan Cuadrado trickery at the heart of both victories.
Juventus have lost only one of their last 25 home games, winning 20 of them, in the Italian Cup. That only defeat came against Fiorentina in the 2014/15 semi-final first leg. A brace from Momo Salah for the Viola overturned the advantage from Fernando Llorente's memorable strike - one of many moments to remember down through the seasons between Juve and Fiorentina in Turin.
The Bianconeri produced a scintillating display in the second leg that season to collect the first of four Coppa Italia crowns under the guidance of Massimiliano Allegri. In fact, no coach has led Juventus to as many Cup finals.
After a two year hiatus, Allegri is back in charge, and so far has collected three wins out of three in this season's tournament. What's more, he has come out on top in the two head-to-heads with his opposite number in the Fiorentina dugout, Vincenzo Italiano, who has lost all four of the games he's taken charge of against Juve, including two last season with Spezia.
However, Italiano's side are enjoying a positive moment, having collected four wins in a five-match unbeaten sequence in Serie A - as well as their impressive numbers in the Cup.
OPPOSITION FOCUS
- With 14 goals Fiorentina are the competition’s top scorers in this edition of the Italian Cup.
- No team can better the Viola's eight goals from dead ball situations, their 11 goals from inside the penalty area or their six goals in the first half.
- Fiorentina have won their last three away matches in the Italian Cup (including the two this season), but not since August 1996 has the Tuscan team registered at least four consecutive away wins in the competition.
- Before 0-1 in the first leg, Fiorentina had scored in all their previous 15 Coppa Italia matches (39 goals in total - 2.6 per match average).
- Since 2018/19 (his first appearance in the Coppa Italia), Krzysztof Piatek is the player that has scored the most goals (12) in the competition. The Viola forward has actually scored four of his seven multiple goals in Italian football in the cup: a four-goal salvo followed by three braces.
- Nikola Milenkovic’s most recent two goals for Fiorentina have arrived in the Italian Cup, against Benevento and Atalanta. No defender has done better in the competition this season.
The final words are left to the coach...
