04 June 2023
Juventus Women retained the Coppa Italia with a hard-fought victory over rivals Roma in the final. At the Arecchi stadium a stoppage-time header from Barbara Bonansea split the sides with the game's only goal.
Once again the Bianconere finish the season with silverware, as the have always done since the foundation of the Women's team.
THE MATCH
In the heat of the Salerno afternoon neither side set out from kick-off with the intention of leaving open spaces at the back. The main intention for both finalists was to keep it shored up in defence.
As a consequence the opening 45 minutes brought little in the way of clear cut chances. The first effort on target came from the foot of Cristiana Girelli, whose shot from distance was easily dealt with by Camelia Caesar. The Bianconere threatened again in the closing 10 minutes of the opening half. Again the effort, a header from Sara Gunnarsdóttir, lacked the power to seriously test the Roma goalkeeper.
Pauline Peyraud-Magnin also was none too busy in the first half. The Juve keeper was on her toes to punch away a dangerous cross floated in by Manuela Giugliano. As the game reached the half-hour mark, another cross from the Giallorosse midfielder reached Lucia Di Guglielmo, whose header was comfortably saved by PPM.
Two minutes later the first real chance inside the Juve area fell to Valentina Giacinti, but the Roma striker failed to make contact when the ball broke to her from a deflected cross.
Immediately after the interval, a scramble inside the Bianconere penalty area almost gifted Roma a sight on goal. Instead, the Juve defence cleared the danger.
Joe Montemurro’s team pushed higher up the field and gained the upper hand in midfield. The pressure resulted in an Arianna Caruso hit from distance - the dipping effort didn’t clear the crossbar by much - and again from Barbara Bonansea, whose shot swerved just wide of the far post.
With a quarter of the match remaining Peyraud-Magnin backtracked to punch over her bar after an attempted clearance ricocheted back towards the Juve goal.
While a Lisa Boattin free-kick forced Caesar to save smartly on her line. At the other end, Andressa slipped a pass through to Emilie Haavi, but from an excellent position the winger chose to cross rather than shoot.
The expanse of the pitch seemed even vaster as the players tired as time ticked on. Yet there was still enough energy inside the five minutes of stoppage time for the game’s only goal.
Boattin pumped a deep cross into the Roma area. The ball eluded the Giallorosse defence but not Bonansea, whose header sneaked in at the far post.
The Juventus bench exploded with joy, subs and backroom staff raced onto the pitch to join in the celebrations. The Coppa Italia was heading back to Turin.
JUVENTUS WOMEN 1-0 ROMA (HT: 0-0)
SCORER: 90+3’ Bonansea
JUVENTUS: Peyraud-Magnin; Gama (90′ Lenzini), Salvai, Sembrant, Boattin; Caruso, Gunnarsdottir, Grosso (90′ Cernoia); Bonansea, Girelli (80′ Nystrom), Beerensteyn. Subs not used: Aprile, Nilden, Simon, Duljan, Pfattner, Cantore. Coach: Montemurro.
ROMA: Caesar; Bartoli, Wenninger, Linari, Di Guglielmo (76‘ Minami); Giugliano, Greggi; Glionna (57′ Serturini), Andressa (84’ Losada), Haavi; Giacinti (76‘ Haug). Subs not used: Ohrstrom, Cinotti, Ciccotti, Kollmats, Kramzar. Coach: Spugna.
Referee: Delrio
BOOKINGS: 33′ Giacinti, 40′ Salvai, 76‘ Wenninger, 88’ Bartoli
