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Roma Dumps Juve Out of Coppa Italia
- Football Italia, Wednesday, January 22, 2014 3:24 PM
There will be no double for Serie A giant Juventus this season, as AS Roma beat the runaway Italian league leader 1-0 in the Coppa Italia Quarterfinal on Tuesday, thanks to a 79th-minute goal from Ivory Coast international Gervinho. The narrow win came just two weeks after Juve’s crushing 3-0 league defeat of the Giallorossi at the Juventus Stadium in Turin.
“I think Roma wanted it more,” Roma coach Rudi Garcia said after the game. “We played against a very strong side and we saw tonight they have two first choice lineups, so you can’t tell when they are rotating.” Garcia reserved special praise for substitute Miralem Pjanic, who carved out the chance that lead to Gervinho’s goal. “His pass was excellent for Kevin Strootman and above all Gervinho’s run to the near post. ... We had prepared for Miralem to be decisive when he came off the bench. I wanted a team that worked hard and covered the midfield, which did work in the first half.”
Despite the fact that his team now only has the league to play for, as Juve has now been dumped out of both the domestic cup and UEFA Champions League, Coach Antonio Conte said he was not dissatisfied with his players. “Both sides played well and studied their opponents. I am satisfied with the performance of those players who usually don’t play as much.” He pointed to the difference between the teams: “An incident was decisive in a one-off game and Roma scored, whereas our goal was disallowed.”
Roma will next face either Napoli or Lazio in the semifinal, which is decided over two games.
