Tuesday 15 January 2008

Coppa Italia: Round 4, 2nd Leg (1)

Juventus reached the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia after beating Serie A strugglers Empoli 5-3 in a thriller in Turin to advance 6-5 on aggregate.

An under-strength Juve lost 2-1 at Empoli in December's first leg and Claudio Ranieri's decision to field a few of his big guns in the return match paid early dividends when Marco Marchionni burst through the defence to score.

Pavel Nedved doubled the lead after just 10 minutes but an injury to defender Giorgio Chiellini knocked Juve off their stride.


Empoli capitalised when Luca Antonini slid in to pull one back and Nicola Pozzi produced an excellent header to bring the scores level on the night.

Vincenzo Iaquinta then struck twice for Juve either side of Pozzi's second before substitute Alessandro Del Piero sealed the home side's passage with a penalty.

The Bianconeri are now set to face rivals Inter in the Last 8, that's if the Nerrazzurri can successfully defend their 4-1 first-leg lead against Reggina at the San Siro on Thursday.

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