Juventus ease past Udinese in Coppa Italia round of 16

After a week in which Juventus had had to find a little something extra in order to win games against opposition they really ought to have dealt with easily, and with one of their sternest tests of the year coming on Sunday, one could be forgiven for hoping that the Old Lady could ease past one of the provincial sides as they began play in the Coppa Italia on Tuesday.

Fortunately for everyone, they did just that against Udinese.

Goals midway through each half were enough to carry Juve through to the quarterfinal by a 2-0 score, although there are questions as to whether or not VAR jobbed them out of one or two more, once because it looked strangely like the semi-automated offside system screwed up, and once because IFAB continues to be delinquent in its duty to the sport by not updating the offside rule. Throw in a couple of good saves and blocks by Rǎzvan Sava and the rest of his defense, and you have a game that Juve really could’ve put away far earlier than they did.

But wins are wins regardless of margin—especially considering the fact that the Bianconeri didn’t allow a shot on target—and Juve are now through to the quarterfinal of the competition for the 18th consecutive year.

Luciano Spalletti had the opportunity to rest a few players and make a few experiments in the team’s 3-4-2-1 setup, although he was still missing Bremer and Daniele Rugani at the back, and Dusan Vlahovic’s recovery timeline took a huge hit after his scans on Monday. Carlo Pinsoglio and Arkadiusz Milik were also still out. Michele Di Gregorio got his first game in goal in the past three after brushing off an illness. Pierre Kalulu, Federico Gatti, and Lloyd Kelly started at the back, with Andrea Cambiaso and Juan Cabal manning the wing-back spots. Teun Koopmeiners was back in midfield alongside Fabio Miretti, while Weston McKennie joined Kenan Yildiz to support Jonathan David in attack.

Udinese manager Kosta Runjaic was without Thomas Kristensen and Hassane Kamara, but still named a relatively strong XI after beating Carrarese and Palermo to reach this stage. Sava started at the back of a 3-1-4-2 formation, screened by Matteo Palma, Oumar Solet, and Nicolò Bertola. Sandi Lovrić stood in front of the defense, with Kingsley Ehizibue, Oier Zarraga, Arthur Atta, and Jordan Zemura stretched in a line behind the strike pairing of Nicolò Zaniolo and Adam Buska.

Juve clearly looked like they wanted to take care of business early, and it was quickly one-way traffic toward Udinese’s goal. Cambiaso dropped a nice cross in that barely missed Yildiz, then the young Turk took matters into his own hands as the 10th minute ticked hy.by trying to put the ball low across the face of goal, but it was met with a parry that bounced in the vicinity of David but not anywhere he could make a play on the ball.

Another Yildiz effort went a whisker wide 10 minutes later, but 90 seconds are so later Juve made their pressure pay. It was a beautiful ball through from Koopmeiners that started it, with McKennie putting a ball in front of the goal that David and Palma reached on the slide at the same time. The ball was touched into the net past Sava, by whom it was difficult to say. At first the play was ruled an own goal, but by the second half some services were already changing it to a goal for the Canadian, so it remains to be seen where that attribution will actually go.

Udinese thought they had an equalizer not long after the opener, but the flag went up as it was tapped into the net. David was then jobbed out of a perfectly legitimately goal—and what a goal it was—when the semi-automated offside system looked to have identified the wrong player as the last man in its calculation. You know, the thing that the semi-automated offside system was designed to not have to do anymore after Juve was jobbed out of a win against Salernitana a few years ago when the VAR operators did that exact thing.

Zaniolo had what looked like a golden opportunity to wipe out the lead right before the break, but eventually the flag did go up. It was a wakeup call, and the fact that the lead was still one started creating consternation as the second half began. Manuel Locatelli had to come in to replace Gatti early in the second half, and with 25 minutes later Juve snapped back to life with McKennie being denied by Sava after some good work by Cabal.

It turned out to be a big moment indeed, because when play next stopped Francesco Forneau was called to the monitor to review a foul by the unfortunate Palma, who had stepped on Cabal’s foot as he released it to McKennie. It was an easy penalty call, and Locatelli cooly dispatched it down the middle to give the Old Lady some breathing room.

It was now a question of seeing things out, and Juve did so with relative ease. Francisco Conceição was denied Juve’s third by a block, and Zhegrova was perhaps similarly rejected in stoppage time. Openda thought he had his first domestic goal for Juve a few moments later by potting an easy square from João Mario, but the semi-automated offside system this time decided after its shenanigans in the first half that it was time to get pedantic, and flagged João Mario for offside in the buildup by the front third of his foot. Regardless, the final whistle blew a minute and a half later, sealing Juve’s passage into the quarterfinal in comfortable fashion.