Juventus men’s squad is scheduled to take on Inter Milan this April in the semi-final round of the Coppa Italia. In parallel to their men’s counterparts, Juventus Women took on Internazionale Women in the Italian Women’s Cup.
After a first-leg draw against Internazionale, Juventus Women took on Inter in a winner take all second-leg match to move on to the final.
Going into the second-leg match, Juventus held the same line-up as the first match with a single change at the right midfield position. Sofie Jung Pederson taking the place of Arianna Caruso.
Juve got off to a hot start with an immediate header in the box by midfielder Sara Gunnarsdottir crossed in by Martina Lenzini in the 2nd minute of the match. With the lead, they didn’t take their foot off the gas as they kept taking shots on goal at an astounding rate to keep the pressure on Inter (27 shots). The pressure was kept on throughout the first half, going into the locker room 1-0.
The finish line was in sight for Juventus until the 83rd minute when Internazionale midfielder Tabitha Chawinga put one into the back of the net to even the score. With 7′ left in regulation neither team could make a move to finish the match as the whistle blew and extra time was upon us.
Subbing in for Lenzini during the match, Arianna Caruso who came on in the 70th minute made an impact in extra time. Caruso hit striker Lineth Beerensteyn with a beautiful lead pass that Beerensteyn brought down, faked the defender, and put into the back of the net in the 100th minute. With the 2-1 lead the Juventus Women’s squad cruised through the rest of extra time to seal the victory and move on to the final round.
Juventus will play Roma in the Coppa Italia Women’s final.
On the opposite side of the bracket, AS Roma defeated AC Milan 3-2 on aggregate. After a 1-0 loss in the first-leg match, Roma beat Milan 3-1 in the second-leg. Roma won in miraculous fashion. They scored the winning goal in the 11th minute of stoppage time to move on.
The top two squads in the Serie A Women league this season will take each other on in the Final. This match will be a rematch of last year’s Coppa Italia where Juventus won 2-1 over Roma. Juventus will be led by Italian striker Cristiana Girelli who is tied for the most goals in the Coppa with 5. Juventus has beaten AS Roma in both matches this season (1-0, 4-2). They are looking to make it a 3rd victory to win the Coppa for the second year in a row.