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Juventus secured a place in the Coppa Italia semi-finals after a comfortable victory over Serie B side SPAL on Wednesday night.
In the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, goals from Alvaro Morata, Dejan Kulusevski, Federico Chiesa and Gianluca Frabotta were enough to ensure Andrea Pirlo’s men cruised to a comfortable 4-0 victory.
Morata opened the scoring with a well-taken penalty in the 18th minute after Adrien Rabiot was brought down in the box.
The referee, who had initially booked the Frenchman for diving, overturned his decision and awarded the penalty after consulting the video assistant referee.
Juventus doubled their lead when youngster Gianluca Frabotta drilled one in from the edge of the box, after a well-worked pass from Sweden international Kulusevski.
The Bianconeri continued to dominate proceedings in the second half and were finally rewarded in the 78th minute when Dejan Kulusevski grabbed their third goal of the night.
Substitute Federico Chiesa took advantage of a mistake by SPAL man Tomovic to find the Swede, who calmly picked his spot with no mistake.
Chiesa capped off Juventus’ excellent attacking display as he finished the scoring for the side in the final minutes of the game. He drove past SPAL goalkeeper Etrit Berisha before tapping into an empty net.
Juventus now progress to the next round of the competition, where they will take on Inter Milan in a mouthwatering two-legged showdown.
Here are five talking points from the encounter:
#5 Juventus win without Cristiano Ronaldo
Andrea Pirlo opted to rest star man Cristiano Ronaldo for this clash, with a number of important fixtures coming up.
Juventus travel to Sampdoria in their next outing, before back-to-back games against AS Roma and Napoli. Pirlo, therefore, opted to rest the Portuguese superstar ahead of these fixtures.
Despite their star man's absence, the youthful Juventus side strolled to success as Spanish forward Alvaro Morata led the attack.
Goals from Morata, Frabotta, Kulusevski and substitute Federico Chiesa were enough to put the Serie B side to the sword.
#4 Federico Chiesa masterclass off the bench
It took Federico Chiesa under half an hour to grab a goal and an assist after coming on for Alvaro Morata in the second half.
The 23-year-old made an instant impact when he pounced on a mistake by SPAL defender Nenad Tomovic to provide Kulusevski with a well-deserved goal.
Chiesa grabbed the final goal of the night after stealing the ball from debutant Cosimo Da Graca and gliding past the goalkeeper to tap in from close range.
The Italian continues his fine form for this season, with seven goals and five assists across all competitions for the Old Lady.
#3 Another solid defensive outing
With Gianluigi Buffon, Juventus kept a third clean sheet in three games as they put on a solid performance against a toothless SPAL side.
Andrea Pirlo opted for a centre-back pairing of Merih Demiral and Matthijs de Ligt, while youngsters Radu Dragusin and Gianluca Frabotta occupied the full-back positions.
The Juventus defence were impressive throughout the game, keeping SPAL quiet and allowing just one shot on target in the entire 90 minutes.
Andrea Pirlo will be hoping that his side can build on this performance when they travel to the Luigi Ferraris Stadium to take on Sampdoria on Saturday.
#2 A superb performance from Dejan Kulusevski
Dejan Kulusevski completed a £29.7 million move from Atalanta to Juventus in January 2020. Since then, the Swede has risen through the ranks to become one of the best young talents across Europe.
The 20-year-old has had a solid season so far under Andrea Pirlo, with five goals and two assists across all competitions.
Against SPAL, the former Atalanta man showed his creative capabilities, as he set up Frabotta for the second goal with a beautiful piece of play.
He joined in on the fun, finding the back of the net in the 78th minute to cap off a superb individual performance.
#1 Juventus youngsters impress
Head coach Andrea Pirlo named a youthful starting line-up as he opted to drop a number of important first-team players for the clash.
Several first-team regulars sat out of this contest, and Cristiano Ronaldo, in particular, was not even included in the 23-man squad.
Andrea Pirlo relied on several Under-21 players for the win, including Nicolo Fagioli, Radu Dragusin and Dejan Kulusevski, who were in the starting XI, and Alessandro Di Pardo and Cosimo Marco Da Graca, who debuted off the bench.
These youngsters performed stupendously for the Old Lady, helping them cruise into the next round of the Coppa Italia.
