Coppa Italia: Six-goal Juventus Ease Past Salernitana and into Quarter-finals

Juventus recovered from conceding a second-minute goal to crush struggling Salernitana 6-1 and reach the Italian Cup quarter-finals on Thursday.

Salernitana, rock bottom in Serie A, stunned their illustrious opponents when Chukwubuikem Ikwuemesi pounced on a mistake from defender Federico Gatti to open the scoring with just two minutes on the clock.

However, Juve were back on level terms 10 minutes later through Fabio Miretti with Andrea Cambiaso adding his team’s second in the 35th minute.

Federico Chiesa set-up a third Juventus goal after 53 minutes for Daniele Rugani before Dylan Bronn scored a 75th-minute own-goal to make it 4-1.

Kenan Yildiz and Timothy Weah completed the rout in the dying minutes.

“It was important, indeed, fundamental, to get through; we risked getting hurt, especially at the beginning, but it turned out well in the end,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri.

“Now let’s put this victory aside immediately because they will be very angry, let’s go now and get the three points in Salerno. The impact of Kenan Yildiz and the boys who entered was excellent, with the right malice. Federico Chiesa had a good match. These players have characteristics that can give us the upper hand.:

“Tonight was good not only and not so much for the six goals, but for how we responded: we still have to work, because in the first half we finished little of what we created. Let’s enjoy this victory and from tomorrow we’ll think about the championship, we can’t afford to lose points. Kenan’s goal is a goal that great players score, he is intelligent and knows how to keep his feet on the ground.”

“It was an excellent match also for Fabio Miretti and Andrea Cambiaso, but we didn’t just discover their qualities this evening. I’m also happy with Sam Iling-Junior’s performance, he pushed a lot. However, we continue to work, above all to find the balance between when we have the ball and when we are not in possession.”

Juventus, second in the league table, meet Salernitana again on Sunday in a Serie A clash in Salerno.

In the Cup quarter-finals, Juve will host Frosinone, who knocked out Napoli, next Thursday.

The other last-eight ties see Fiorentina take on Bologna, AC Milan tackle Atalanta and Lazio face city rivals Roma.

(With inputs from Agencies)