Coppa Italia: Juve KO on penalties, Empoli in the semi-finals

Juventus also fails to make an appointment with the Coppa Italia, the adventure stops in the quarter-finals and from eleven meters against Empoli. D'Aversa and his boys achieve the feat of gaining the pass to the semifinal (the first in the history of the Tuscan club), the Stadium whistles the bianconeri for yet another seasonal disappointment.

Vlahovic plus Kolo Muani, Thiago Motta tries the experiment from the start and starts from where he finished in Cagliari, with the two centre forwards together. For the rest, the turnover of the Italian-Brazilian is almost zero, since Gatti and Kelly still play in defence between Weah and Cambiaso, in midfield there are Thuram and Koopmeiners and in the three-quarter line there are captain McKennie and Nico Gonzalez. D'Aversa makes decidedly more rotations and goes to place Konate in the offensive tandem with Colombo, while with Henderson and Maleh the 2005-born Bacci is launched. In defence, the game is man-to-man, with Cacace following Kolo Muani, Ismajli taking care of Vlahovic, Marianucci who doesn't let go of Nico and Tosto who sticks to McKennie. The Tuscans, however, had to take their measure and immediately took a big risk: Kelly's throw found the former PSG player, the Argentine slipped in and then missed the lob in front of Vasquez. Perin made life difficult for himself on Maleh's pressing, then Juve began to play with a certain insistence in Empoli's half but with a slow and awkward maneuver. And in the 24th minute the Tuscans broke the deadlock: Nico made a mistake on the way out, Gatti and Kelly failed to close down Maleh and the midfielder let loose a right-footed shot that hit the target. The Stadium began to whistle, the Bianconeri suffered the backlash and struggled, with many technical errors that further angered the fans. Then, in the minute of injury time, the collapse was at risk, with Konaté finding himself in front of Perin after a long clearance from Vasquez but hitting the inside of the post. Thiago tries to give a boost during the break, but the results don't come because after 23 seconds Maleh shoots again and this time the Bianconeri goalkeeper responds with a corner. In the 52nd minute Vlahovic sounds the charge with a free kick rejected by Vasquez, the coach brings on Locatelli and Yildiz for Kelly and Koopmeiners, with the Dutchman covered in deafening whistles. It's Empoli, however, who go close to doubling the score again, when Cambiaso loses the ball badly and Sambia crashes into Perin. Nico also gets whistles when he leaves the pitch for Conceicao, it's a Juve with a very strong offensive drive for the last half hour. For the equalizer, however, a real magic from Thuram is needed, who frees himself with a science fiction play by Henderson and scores the 1-1 in the 66th minute. The Bianconeri's attacks are entrusted to Vlahovic, the Serbian is first blocked and then Vasquez saves his header. And, above all, the number 9 misses the chance to knock out the visitors in the 85th minute, missing a penalty in motion. The last ball ends up on Yildiz's left foot who kicks high, so it's a lottery from eleven meters: they kick under the south curve, the errors of Vlahovic and Yildiz are fatal and with Marianucci's goal they condemn Juve and make Empoli dream. The Tuscans will go on to play the double semifinal with Bologna, Thiago Motta only has the race for fourth place in the Champions League left.