09 March 2024
Juventus Women’s Italian Cup run came to an end in the semi-finals as they were defeated 4-1 on aggregate by Fiorentina. After a 1-0 first-leg loss in Florence, the Bianconere fell 3-1 in Biella in the second.
The match
The game couldn’t have got off to a worse start for the Bianconere, and the comeback was made complicated from the very beginning. A Veronica Boquete free-kick ended up falling loose on the goalline, and Madelen Janogy was the first to pounce to turn it over and into the net.
Pauline Peyraud-Magnin was alert to deny Alexandra Johannsdottir a second for Fiorentina moments later, but it did then come from the penalty spot. With Michela Catena brought down by Lisa Boattin, Boquete stepped up and duly dispatched.
Barbara Bonansea and Arianna Caruso tried their luck, to no avail, and Cristiana Girelli time and again found herself thwarted by a Katja Schroffenegger who pulled off one miraculous save after another. But the Bianconere didn’t give up and they kept pushing, eventually getting their reward in stoppage time when Asia Bragonzi turned home from close range to halve the deficit on the day.
Fiorentina, though, started the second half on the front foot again, and five minutes after the restart Janogy was wheeling away in celebration once more. This time the Swede did well on the stretch to redirect a cross past Peyraud-Magnin.
DIRECTOR STEFANO BRAGHIN'S POST-MATCH COMMENTS
“I want to first congratulate the fans who supported us until the very end today in tough circumstances, which can never be taken for granted. It’s easy to support a team when the team is winning, but it must be emphasised that we received affection like this in defeat.
“Then I have to congratulate Fiorentina’s goalkeeper. She put in one of the best performances I’ve seen in my many years in football, of any goalkeeper. We played 20 bad minutes, with a lot of individual mistakes, but then for 70 minutes I saw a lot of spirit and a desire I hadn’t seen for a long time on the pitch. I saw a desire to play for the shirt. We saw a different attitude once we went 2-0 down.
“Juventus must always be motivated. We have to defend second place in Serie A with an eye on next season’s Champions League.
“On the refereeing performance, I want to say that we all make mistakes, I make choices, players make choices, and referees do too. Everybody makes mistakes. I wouldn’t want to dwell too much on those. What we can do is give more importance to the evaluation of refereeing performances on occasions like this, so that the officials feel as though they can give more value and importance to the event as well.
On the coaching change
“If a club likes Juventus, one which hardly ever dismisses coaches, takes such a painful decision to take, of course the situation is difficult. It would be naive to think that with two training sessions and a bus trip to Biella that everything would have been resolved. This is the consequence of a difficult situation and we for sure can’t solve it in two days. I’m happy that Zappella has taken such a big responsibility at such a tough time, I’ve thanked him for that and we can only support him. In tough times coaches can clear out but he has stayed on board. We’ve won a lot together, and I’ve thanked him because it’s not something that everybody would have taken on in his position.”
Juventus Women 1-3 Fiorentina
Juventus: Peyraud-Magnin, Lenzini, Salvai (Cap), Calligaris, Boattin, Caruso, Grosso (60' Beerensteyn), Girelli, Bonansea (60' Echegini), Cantore (60' Thomas), Bragonzi (60' Gunnarsdottir).
Unused subs: Aprile, Gama, Cafferata, Garbino, Cascarino
Coach: Giuseppe Zappella
Fiorentina: Schroffenegger, Longo (76' Toniolo), Catena (69' Bellucci), Erzen (89' Tortelli), Janogy (76' Mijatovic), Johannsdottir, Severini, Georgieva, Agard, Faerge, Boquete Giadans (Cap) (89' Cinotti).
Unused subs: Parisi, Lundin, Baldi, Tucceri Cimini.
Coach: Sebastian De La Fuente
Referee: Grasso Gianluca
Assistants: Decorato Michele, Pandolfo Giovanni
Fourth Official: Drigo Mattia
Bookings: 64' Beerensteyn (J), 71' Erzen (F), 75' Caruso (J)
