20 April 2022
Juve's slender one goal advantage from the semi-final first leg was expertly defended against Fiorentina in the second leg. What's more, the Bianconeri added two goals on the night to win 3-0 on aggregate. Federico Bernardeschi just after 30 minutes in the first half, and Danilo in second half stoppages were the scorers in a match whose outcome was never at risk. The reward? A final against Inter in Rome on May 11t.
SOLID FOUNDATION
Massimiliano Allegri decided on a 4-4-2 formation, with Federico Bernardeschi given a starter's place in midfield alongside Denis Zakaria, Danilo and Adrien Rabiot. Two in attack, Dusan Vlahovic and Alvaro Morata. For their part, Fiorentina fielded three up front from kick off, Arthur Cabral, Joanthan Ikoné and Riccardo Saponara, with Nico Gonzalez willing to push up in support. However, despite all their attacking prowess, the Viola struggled to make inroads against the Juve defence. The Bianconeri, meanwhile, were keen to hit on the counter attack and take advantage of the visitors' desire to push forward. Vlahovic and Morata were linking up well, but were lacking the timing of the final pass. The Juve front two found themselves one-on-one against Bartłomiej Drągowski, who thwarted first Morata then Vlahovic, before both were eventually flagged for offside. In between these two opportunities, a Vlahovic clever backheel found Morata inside the area, but Martinez Quarta cleared the danger before the Spaniard could shoot. A counter attack did lead to the opening goal, however. On 32 minutes, Rabiot won the ball at the edge of his own penalty area, and allowed Danilo to push forward, assisted by Matthijs De Ligt. With a numerical advantage, Morata had time to flight in the cross, which was missed by Dragowski. Cristiano Biraghi attempted to head clear but the ball fell to Bernardeschi, who controlled on his chest before dispatching the ball on the volley into the gaping net. With that opportunistic strike, Juve had opened up a two-goal advantage on aggregate. With Leonardo Bonucci leading the defensive line, Juve were running little risk at the back, although Fiorentina did fashion a chance before half time when Cabral created space inside the box, but his close range shot was parried by Mattia Perin.
END OF THE CONTEST
Perin was called into action again at the start of the second half. A corner was met by Martinez Quarta, forcing the Juve keeper into an acrobatic one-handed save. Juventus knew the tie was not over and looked for the killer second goal on the night, which almost arrived on the break through Zakaria, whose shot struck the outside of the upright. On 70 minutes, Juve did have the ball in the back of the net again, and once more it was a midfielder that was the threat. Rabiot was to be denied a rare goal though after VAR adjudged the midfielder to have been in an offside position before he slotted a Bernardeschi pass beyond Drągowski. Both coaches made a flurry of substitutions, and it would be one on the Juve side that would be influential to the match's second goal. Before the goal that ended Fiorentina's hopes, Perin made two more important blocks from two Viola subs in the 90th minute. The first from a long-range effort from Sofyan Amrabat; the second from a tight angle from Riccardo Sottil. Then in stoppage time, Juan Cuadrado, whose cross had set up the only goal in the first leg, again created confusion in the Fiorentina penalty area. His cut back was swept into the net by Danilo, who was then mobbed by his jubilant teammates as they celebrated yet another Italian Cup final - the 21st in club history. Adding shine to the scoreline was a consecutive clean sheet against Fiorentina, a team that had scored in all of their 15 previous cup ties before running into the black and white wall. A job well done.
JUVENTUS 2-0 FIORENTINA (HT: 1-0) (AGG: 3-0)
SCORERS: 32' Bernardeschi (J), 90+4' Danilo (J)
JUVENTUS
Perin; De Sciglio (79' Cuadrado), Bonucci, De Ligt, Alex Sandro; Bernardeschi (82' Chiellini), Zakaria, Danilo, Rabiot; Vlahovic (82' Kean), Morata (66' Dybala).
Subs not used: Szczęsny, Pinsoglio, Pellegrini, Rugani, Soulé, Moretti.
Coach: Allegri.
FIORENTINA
Dragowski; Venuti (69' Callejon), Martinez Quarta, Igor, Biraghi; Duncan (79' Maleh), Torreira (45' Amrabat), Saponara (63' Sottil); Ikone (79' Piatek), Cabral, Gonzalez.
Subs not used: Terracciano, Rosati, Bonaventura, Terzic, Odriozola, Nastasic, Kokorin.
Coach: Italiano.
Referee: Doveri
Assistants: Peretti, Bresmes
Fourth Official: Piccinini
VAR: Banti, Meli
BOOKINGS: 45'+2 De Sciglio (J), 72' Martinez Quarta (F)
