Clearly deprioritizing Coppa Italia, Juventus head coach Antonio Conte made six changes to his starting XI for today’s quarterfinal at the Stadio Olimpico, leaving the likes of Carlos Tévez, Fernando Llorente, Paul Pogba and Gianluigi Buffon out of the lineup for the Old Lady’s second meeting of the month with high-powered Roma. Unfortunately for Conte, Rudi Garcia did not take the competition as lightly, an approach that paid off when Gervinho’s 79th minute goal gave Roma a 1-0 win, launching the Giallorossi into the tournament’s semifinals.
There, last year’s finalists will face the winner of next week’s match between Napoli and Lazio, potentially setting up a rematch of May’s final between the two Rome rivals. Until then, however, Roma can enjoy their small piece of redemption. Having lost to Juventus 4-0 earlier this month, Roma get the pleasure of seeing Italy’s leaders out of the country’s cup competition, even if the victory does nothing for the eight point gap that separates the clubs at the top of Serie A.
In Coppa, however, Roma become favorites to lift the trophy, being the highest-placed team remaining in the competition. Third place Napoli are also alive, as are Fiorentina (hosting Siena, Thursday) and Milan (hosting Udinese, Wednesday).
On Tuesday, the match was largely Roma’s, the home side out-shooting their opposition 8-1 in the first half while having more of the ball. Given how Juventus beat the Giallorossi two weeks ago, however, there was still an underlying tension to the game. When would Juventus pounce at Garcia’s side, potentially using Roma’s control to their advantage?
That moment appeared to come just after halftime when Mauricio Isla’s cross from the right found Federico Peluso at the far post, with the Juventus wing back apparently heading the visitors in front. The cross, however, was judged to have curved across the end line before coming back into play, with the officials awarding a goal kick.
It was the closest Juventus came to a shot on target all night, with Roma’s edge in play persisting into the second half. In the 79th minute, that advantage finally translated onto the scoresheet, thanks in part to Miralem Pjanic. The Bosnian international drew the defense toward him at the edge of the penalty area before playing the ball left toward the byline. Kevin Strootman tracked it down before the ball went out of play, cutting a cross back for Gervinho at the near post. The Ivory Coast international’s stab at the drilled pass punched the ball past Marco Storari, giving Roma the game’s only goal.
Come full-time, Roma’s players embraced each other, clearly cognizant of the redemption they’d earned. It was only the fourth time in 28 games Juventus has lost this season, with two of those defeats coming in Champions League. It was the first time the Bianconeri had lost to an Italian team since their Oct. 20 trip to Fiorentina.
Conte’s selection played a large part, but those are the realities of balancing league and cup competition. On Tuesday, Garcia’s management of his squad helped push Roma into Coppa’s final four. Juventus’s reserves, unable to force a save from Morgan de Sanctis, helped see their club out.
