Naples, what a party at Juve: penalties are decisive. Rome and Fiorentina struggle ahead

Coppa Italia day also in Spring. We are in the round of 16, the big ones come into play who – however – make a titanic effort. And it is Juventus who pays the price, which does not come out of its complicated period. Without victories in the league since October (ko against Roma, Inter and Lecce on an equal footing) he was eliminated at home by Napoli who, inferior on paper, let themselves be dragged along by the class of Jorge Alastuey. The Spanish midfielder, for years the star of the Barcelona cantera before a bad injury changed everything, demonstrates a superior level with a series of plays that repeatedly put his teammates in a position to hurt the black and whites, who took the lead in the 33rd minute with pearl of another great talent, that Yildiz snatched in the summer – not without controversy – from Bayern. The right-footed shot under the Turkish-German cross let us imagine a happy afternoon for Montero’s team, which, however, at the end of the first half found themselves in 10 for Rouhi’s red card.

BLUE JOY

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From there the match changed, thanks also to a Napoli in really good shape (on Friday they came close to winning against Milan). Noah Mutanda tries first, the German midfielder from 2005 who grew up in Schalke, on whom Daffara surpasses himself. The Juventus goalkeeper is also good on Spavone, who eats up the 1-1. An equalizer that arrived in the 78th minute with a long-distance fireball from Rossi, the former AC Milan striker who thus scored his fifth goal of the season. Extra time is one action after another, Alastuey nearly takes the lead as does Turco, whose diagonal in the 119th minute goes by a whisker. Then the penalties, where Napoli is perfect. Instead, Doratiotto (crossbar) and Domanico (Turi’s parade) are wrong. Juve ko, blue party. Roma will be in the quarterfinals.

HOW SCARY

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Afternoon decidedly more complicated than expected also for Roma, called to react after the league defeat against Fiorentina. But Lecce, who kept Juventus’ attack dry (the best in the league) on Saturday, proved to be the strongest defense of all and kept the game at 0-0 until the 120th minute. With a little luck of course, because Guidi’s team was stopped three times by the woodwork (crossbar by Falasca, posts by Pisilli and – at the last second – also by Padula). But in the end the protagonist of the day is the home goalkeeper Gabriele Baldi, who in the 114th minute saves his teammates from the Corfitzen bomb and who opposes Hasic and Dorgu on penalties. Born in 2004, in May – when he was still a deputy in the Primavera – Mourinho took him to the bench at the Olimpico for the match against Bologna: “Emotions that cannot be explained”, Gabriele exulted on social media. Roma also miss two penalties (Vetkal and Missori), but Berisha’s shot, which ends high, is decisive.

PURPLE WITH EFFORT

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Everything seemed easy for Fiorentina, the true queen of the competition. They have always won it in the last four years, it is difficult to predict a feat by Ascoli, fifth in Primavera 2. And instead the bianconeri, who have come this far by beating Imolese, Perugia, Empoli and Bologna, forced the Viola into extra time thanks to the fifth goal in the tournament by the usual Alessio Re, who in the 59th minute – following the development of a free kick – immediately equalized Kayode’s goal. He has always marked the 19-year-old from San Benedetto del Tronto, to date the cup’s top scorer. He who was called up by Bucchi last summer for the first team’s retreat. A worthy reward for an Ascoli team that played openly only to collapse in the first overtime, cashing in the one-two from Distefano and Berti within a couple of minutes, with the former having already made his Serie A debut and the latter with about twenty matches in C with the Cesena shirt. At the beginning of the second overtime the final own goal of 4-1. The winner of Atalanta-Frosinone is in the quarterfinals for Aquilani’s team.