21 January 2016
Another morning, another statistical round-up of a Juventus win, their 12th in a row and second over Lazio in all competitions since October 2015. On the night, Stephan Lichsteiner’s winner midway through the second half was enough to send the Bianconeri into the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia for the fourth time in five years.
Now flying high on all fronts, Wednesday’s narrow victory at the Olimpico was Juve’s sixth in seven cup ties and arguably one of the toughest of all on paper: before last night, Lazio had not lost a home Coppa tie since May 2008 nor succumbed to the Old Lady before the final for 21 years.
On a night where defences came to the fore more often than their attacking colleagues, it was the tenacious rearguard action of Massimiliano Allegri’s men that provided the unshakeable base from which to win the game in the second period.
In fact, the experienced defensive trio of Martin Caceres, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini gave absolutely nothing away over the 90 minutes and prevented their opponents from mustering a single shot on target for the second time in this year’s competition.
As it happened, it was a defender that did the business at the other end of the field and an ex-Lazio one at that. Lichtsteiner’s 66th minute effort, narrowly confirmed to have crossed the line by goal-line technology, was the Swiss’ second against his former employers having netted the third of four goals in 2013’s Super Cup final.
Elsewhere, Claudio Marchisio celebrated his 30th birthday with a typically understated and composed showing from central midfield, creating three chances for his team-mates while completing 37 successful forward passes and 100 per cent of his dribbles.
Adding the thrust to Marchisio’s control was Paul Pogba who perhaps would have added his name to the scoresheet on other night, unluckily seeing his low drive well saved by Etrit Berisha and his second-half header float inches over the crossbar from Alex Sandro’s excellent left-wing cross.
How many times will that be said this season? The Brazilian made the left flank his own once more on Wednesday night, putting six pinpoint deliveries into the Lazio penalty area while recovering possession on the same number of occasions in another impressive showing.
The only number that truly counts this morning however is four, as the Bianconeri join Inter Milan, Alessandria and Milan in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia.
