LONDON: Juventus thrashed Fiorentina 3-0 to overturn a 2-1 semi-final first leg deficit and reach the Coppa Italia final to keep alive their hopes of a treble on Tuesday while Auxerre beat holders En Avant Guingamp 1-0 to reach the Coupe de France final.

Alessandro Matri, Roberto Pereyra and Leonardo Bonucci scored the goals as Juve, seeking their first Coppa Italia trophy in 20 years, crushed La Viola in the second leg in Florence.

“We showed how strong we are today,” Pereyra said. “We’re going step by step. Now we’ll focus on Parma and then the Champions League.”

Four-time Coupe de France winners Auxerre, who now play in the second division (Ligue 2), turned back the clock on past glories and won thanks to a goal from midfielder Frederic Sammaritano.

Domestic Cups grabbed the spotlight across Europe in midweek with Borussia Dortmund veteran Sebastian Kehl scoring a sensational extra-time winner in a 3-2 victory over Hoffenheim to advance to the German Cup semi-finals and keep alive their hopes of European football next season.

Elsewhere, there was league action in Spain with Atletico Madrid moving to within six points of La Liga leaders Barcelona thanks to a comfortable 2-0 win over Real Sociedad.

FIORENTINA OUTCLASSED

Massimiliano Allegri’s Juventus, who have a 14-point lead at the top of Serie A and have reached the Champions League quarter-finals where they face AS Monaco, will face either Napoli or Lazio in the final and proved too strong, physically, mentally and technically for Fiorentina.

Due to the away goal rule, Juve went into the game knowing they had to score at least twice to avoid going out but with 45 minutes to play, they were a goal to the good on aggregate.

Florence: Fiorentina’s Gonzalo (R) and Alessandro Matri of Juventus vie for the ball during their Coppa Italia semi-final.—AFP

Filling in for the injured Carlos Tevez, Matri put Juventus ahead from close range midway through the first half and Pereyra doubled the lead just before halftime by knocking in a rebound.

Bonucci volleyed home the third from a corner in the 59th minute after the Fiorentina defence lost concentration however Juventus will be without forward Alvaro Morata in the final after he was sent off in the 88th minute for a tackle from behind on Alessandro Diamanti.

GUNGAMP SURPRISED

Sammaritano scored the only goal of the game for unfancied Auxerre, currently eighth in Ligue 2, after 15 minutes and despite being down to 10-men when Jamel Ait Ben Idir saw red after 73 minutes they managed to hold out Guingamp.

“We’ll savour this achievement. I’m very proud to coach this group, they deserve to go through,” said Auxerre coach Jean-Luc Vannuchi, whose side will play either Paris St Germain or St Etienne in the final.

“Our final was tonight, we won it. Now we’re going into a new dimension whoever our opponents will be.”

In a Ligue 1 match postponed earlier this year and played on Tuesday, Monaco failed to close in on the Champions League places after drawing 0-0 at home to Montpellier.

A win would have moved Monaco (55 points) level on points with third-placed Olympique Marseille, but coach Leonardo Jardim’s side failed to break down a well-organised Montpellier side, who are in seventh place.

KEHL THUNDERBOLT

Veteran midfielder Kehl rolled back the years to score a spectacular long-distance volley in extra time at the Westfalenstadion to put Dortmund in the semi-finals of the German Cup for the third time in four years.

Dortmund, last year’s beaten finalists, are looking to rescue an otherwise disappointing season by securing a Europa League spot after a dismal Bundesliga campaign and took the lead through central defender Neven Subotic in the 19th minute before Kevin Volland’s superb volley levelled the match two minutes later.

Brazil international Roberto Firmino put Hoffenheim 2-1 up at half-time before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang equalised midway through the second-half.

It stayed 2-2 at the end of normal time before Kehl’s superb winner in the 107th minute went in off the post. “That was an amazing shot,” said Dortmund’s director of sport Michael Zorc.

Earlier, Ricardo Rodriguez converted a second-half penalty to allow VfL Wolfsburg to advance to the semi-finals with a 1-0 victory over Freiburg.

ATLETICO CRUISE

Atletico’s Koke created both goals as the La Liga champions made a typically aggressive start to lay the foundations for victory at home to mid-table Sociedad.

Koke’s inswinging delivery from a corner aimed at Fernando Torres was headed into his own net by Sociedad’s Mikel Gonzalez in the second minute and Antoine Griezmann made it 2-0 in the 10th minute when he followed up Koke’s saved effort.

The win lifted Atletico to 65 points, provisionally two off second-placed Real Madrid with leaders Barca on 71.

Sevilla, in fifth, drew level on 61 points with fourth-placed Valencia thanks to a 2-1 win at Levante on Tuesday, Kevin Gameiro and Jose Antonio Reyes putting the Europa League champions 2-0 up and Kalu Uche replying for the home side.

Minnows Eibar ended an 11-game winless run to ease their relegation fears with a 1-0 victory over seventh-placed Malaga who suffered a setback in their quest for a Europa League berth.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2015

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