MILAN: Paulo Dybala scored twice as Juventus beat Udinese 4-0 on Wednesday to reach the Coppa Italia quarter-finals.

Juventus, who have won the trophy a record 13 times including four of the past five editions, will face either Roma or Parma.

The Bianconeri made a number of changes with Cristiano Ronaldo out with illness and Merih Demiral injured.

Dybala and Gonzalo Higuan combined for the opening goal in the 16th minute, exchanging a series of passes before Higuan finished it off.

Dybala got on the scoresheet himself 10 minutes later with a powerful penalty after Udinese goalkeeper Nicolas had tripped Federico Bernardeschi.

Higuan thought he had doubled his tally early in the second half but it was ruled out for offside after a video review.

Instead it was Dybala who got his second minutes later with a shot into the top left corner.

“That was a goal of rare beauty, to see three or four exchanges like that at high speed. It was worth the price of the ticket,” said Juve coach Maurizio Sarri.

“I love to see goals like that with fast passing, but they can only work with players of great technical quality.”

Ten minutes after the opener, Udinese goalkeeper Nicolas tripped Federico Bernardeschi and Dybala converted the penalty Douglas Costa converted another penalty in the 61st following a handball from Udinese defender Bram Nuytinck.

Pol Lirolas late goal gave 10-man Fiorentina a 2-1 win over Atalanta and a place in the quarter-finals against Inter Milan.

Lirola hit an angled shot into the bottom left corner in the 84th minute to help Fiorentina eliminate last seasons runner-up.

Patrick Cutrone had given Fiorentina an early lead with his first goal since joining the club from Wolverhampton Wanderers last week.

Atalanta twice hit the crossbar before Josip Ilii leveled in the 67th minute. And it seemed as if the match had turned three minutes later when Fiorentina defender Germn Pezzella was shown a second yellow card, for diving, and sent off.

However, the home side managed to find a winner despite being a man down, sparking celebrations on the Fiorentina bench.

Krzysztof Pitek scored one and set up another as AC Milan beat Spal 3-0 to set up a quarterfinal against Torino.

Zlatan Ibrahimovi was left on the bench and Pitek took full advantage.

The Poland forward drilled home a through-ball from Ismal Bennacer in the 20th minute and then turned provider for Samu Castillejo to curl a delightful effort into the top right corner, on the stroke of halftime.

Theo Hernndez sealed the result in the 66th.

SPAL thought they have been given a chance to score a consolation goal late on when they were awarded a penalty after Lucas Paqueta slid in for a tackle and blocked a shot with his elbow.

But the referee reversed his decision after a video review.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2020