Full-time: Juventus 1-2 Fiorentina
All hail Mo Salah! Juventus hadn’t lost at hme for two years and Fiorenitna have a precious lead to take back to Florence for the second leg. Thanks for reading. Bye.
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90 min+5: Pogba bounces a volley straight at Neto. That should be that.
90 min+2: Tevez is booked. The clock is ticking.
90 min+1: We’ll have five minutes of stoppage time, which seems generous.
90 min: Another crucial block in the Fiorentina area.
87 min: Tevez tries to turn and shoot in the area, but h’ss denied by a brilliant last-ditch block!
86 min: What a chance for Fiorentina to score a third! But it’s a watse from Diamanti. He found himself running at Ogbonna, with Ilicic up with him in support, but he was too selfish, trying to go it alone, and had to settle for a corner in the end.
85 min: It’s defence v attack. Fiorentina are camped inside their own half, but they’re coping.
81 min: An escape for Fiorentina. Caceres drills the ball into the six-yard box, but Pereyra can’t turn it in.
78 min: Liverpool legend Alberto Aquilani is on for Fiorentina, replacing Badejl.
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77 min: Another booking, this time for Claudio Marchisio, who hasn’t had the best of evenings.
75 min: “Finland loves you,” reveals Mari Rytkönen. “Or at least three do, and the rest don’t matter. Why isn’t Buffon on today? Injured or too Voldemort?” He’s just been rested.
74 min: Fiorentina make another change, the remarkable Mo Salah replaced by Alessandro Diamanti. Salah has scored six goals in his first six Fiorentina games.
73 min: Roberto Pereyra comes on for Simone Pepe. Caceres is booked for catching Joaquin.
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71 min: Salah pops up on the right and knocks a pass inside to Ilicic. 20 yards from goal he takes a touch to get the ball out of his feet and then batters a monstrous shot inches past the right post. What an effort! That was a bullet. Storari wasn’t anywhere near that.
70 min: Pogba’s shot is deflected wide. The noise increases. But when the corner is deflected over, Bonucci slashes a volley over. “I like to imagine that every time Salah scores it feels like a dagger to Jose Mourinho,” says JR in Illinois. “Well, to be perfectly honest, it doesn’t even really take a Salah goal for me to imagine Mourinho feeling daggers, that’s just pretty much my normal state. Because I really don’t like him. Because he is awful.”
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68 min: Juventus are banging on the door. Basanta heads Pogba’s cross behind. Fiorentina are hanging on a bit.
67 min: Basanta is booked for pulling Morata down. This is getting tasty.
66 min: Tevez twists and turns on the left and rolls a pass inside to Vidal, whose shot is blocked by Basanta, who is in thou shalt not pass mode.
65 min: After a date with the magic sponge, Neto is healed. Fiorentina get the corner away.
64 min: Neto collides with the post as he pushes a shot over from Pogba. He’s hurt his arm and will need some treatment. Fiorentina, meanwhile, have brought on Josip Ilicic for Mario Gomez. “So NO ONE has asked for your Tevez celebration?” says Michael Hellberg. “I won’t either, but will note that is sad.”
62 min: Tevez goes so close to a swift equaliser. Marchisio played Morta in on the right and he cut the ball back to Tevez. He swept the ball the near post from close range, but Neto got down brilliantly to push it away and then jump on the rebound before Tevez could reach it.
61 min: Who’s scored more goals this week, Eden Hazard or Mo Salah? Exactly.
59 min: Fernando Llorente, Juve’s goalscorer, is replaced by Alvaro Morata. “You have a reader in Hawaii, but he can’t help identify cheesy but catchy pop beats there or here,” says Paul Migliorato, who’s been no help at all, a major disappointment if I’m being brutally honest.
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58 min: Gomez dribbles a shot wide from the left of the area. Juventus are all over the place.
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GOAL! Juventus 1-2 Fiorentina (Salah, 56 min)
This had been coming, but Juventus have not only located the self-destruct button, they’ve been bashing it like it says PRESS HERE FOR PRESENTS AND CHOCOLATE. Marchisio conceded possession on the edge of his own area with an atrociously lazy attempt at a pass and Salah stole the ball off him, advanced on goal and stroked a left-footed finish past Storari. He’s done it again!
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55 min: Badelj clips a cross from right to left; Alonso heads over after getting in front of Pepe. The Juventus fans are unimpressed.
54 min: “So, I’m dying to know what was the cheesy but catchy pop beat that the teams came out to?” says Simon McMahon. “I love a bit of Italian house.” No one’s come up with an answer yet, but that could be because you’re my only reader.
53 min: Fiorentina continue to turn the screw. Joaquin’s cross is headed away as far as Salah, who aims for the far corner from 18 yards. He gets it all wrong, though, the ball sailing harmlessly wide.
51 min: It’s all Fiorentina at the start of the second half. A sharp exchange of passes sets up Salah for a shooting opportunity, but Bonucci throws himself in the way.
50 min: “So I have to ask,” says Matthew Carpenter. “Is the forza strong with young Padoin?”
49 min: Micah Richards almost gives Fiorentina the lead! Fernandez pokes a pass through and Richards’s firm low drive from the right forces Storari to push the ball behind for a corner. That all came from a poor throw out by Storari.
48 min: Kurtic has a shot from 25 yards. It takes a deflection and spins to Gomez in the area, but he’s offside and, anyway, he falls over.
47 min: Pepe reaches the byline but takes a touch too many and his low cross to the near post is dealt with by Fiorentina.
46 min: Here we go again.
Half-time: Juventus 1-1 Fiorentina
Mo Salah gave Fiorentina an early lead, but Fernando Llorente’s header brought Juventus back into the game. Back in 15 minutes.
45 min: Padoin hooks a cross to the far post from the left; Vidal’s header loops just wide.
44 min: Hey, who wants to see a video of me celebrating Carlos Tevez’s first ever goal for West Ham in 2007?
43 min: “In response to how exciting this match has been, compare that to the Roma-Juve match the other day,” notes Zachary Mercado. “Too many bookings. Too boring.”
41 min: Milan Badelj is booked for hauling Llorente over.
40 min: This half has flown by. Why didn’t someone tell me that Italian football can be exciting?
37 min: Juventus deal comfortably enough with Fernandez’s free-kick and before Fiorentina know it, Tevez is speeding down the left flank after being released by a clever pass down the line. He bundles into the area and has not one shot ... but two shots. Both are blocked, but that’s a sign of Tevez’s threat.
36 min: Pogba earns himself a booking for a lunge from behind on Fernandez. Fiorentina have a free-kick in a promising position, although it might be too far out for a shot. Before they can take it, Juventus bring on Carlos Tevez for the limping Kingsley Coman.
35 min: Fiorentina have bossed the last few minutes. They’re passing it well and aren’t allowing Juventus a touch of the ball. Which probably means a Juventus goal is on the way.
33 min: Micah Richards tries a power charge into the Juventus area. No luck.
31 min: Matias Fernandez is allowed too much room in midfield and lets fly, forcing Storari to tip the ball over for a corner, from which Fiorentina should regain the lead! They pull Juventus apart with a training-ground routine and the ball is fizzed low into the six-yard box, where Gomez is all alone. The ball is just behind him, meaning he can’t turn it on target, but he screws it to Basanta, who somehow heads against the post from a couple of yards out! Dearie me, what a miss. Carlos Tevez is warming up for Juventus.
28 min: Who are the top football personalities of 2015 so far? I’ll put forward Harry Kane, Mo Salah and Adrian to start us off. Who else?
27 min: GIVE IT TO SALAH.
25 min: Ignore everything I say from now on.
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GOAL! Juventus 1-1 Fiorentina (Llorente, 24 min)
The minute-by-minute writer’s curse strikes! Just as I was pontificating about Juventus’s lack of threat, they go and equalise in magnificent style. Pepe swings a cross in from the right and there’s Fernando Llorente to rise highest in the middle and glance a superb header past the helpless Neto and in off the base of the far post! We’ve got a game on our hands here!
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23 min: After such a bright start, Juve’s threat has rather fizzled out, Caceres dabbing a hopeful wide from the edge of the area. Salah’s goal has knocked them for six.
20 min: Seriously, though - because sometimes the laughter has to stop - I’ve always liked Salah and thought that he could have been more of an asset for Chelsea.
19 min: I always thought that Chelsea would regret letting Mo Salah go. Just look how badly they’ve done since he left. There’s barely a club there any more. Jose Mourinho will be on Goals on Sunday this week, making an emotional plea for him to return.
17 min: Kurtic picks up the first booking of the evening after catching Kingsley ‘Ronald’ Coman from behind.
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16 min: Marchisio has a dig from 25 yards, but skews his effort well wide. Juventus can’t believe what’s just happened. They were bossing this match and now look!
14 min: Okay, maybe it is. “Ciao Jacob,” says trusty old Simon McMahon. “I can never watch Juve without thinking about a tale which probably isn’t true, but should be. After a CL stalemate a few years back, I’m told that a newspaper ran the headline ‘Old Lady fails to master BATE at home’. The Guardian, maybe?”
13 min: That really was an absurd goal. It’s no exaggeration to say that Salah was like a turbo-charged Maradona there.
12 min: Salah is on the charge again, but this time he doesn’t score an amazing solo goal; he wants to buck his ideas up.
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GOAL! Juventus 0-1 Fiorentina (Salah, 11 min)
What a goal from the man they’re already calling the Egyptian Messi! Well, everyone who’s not Jose Mourinho, that is, or a Chelsea supporter, who probably call him the Egyptian Gronkjaer. Fiorentina cleared the corner and suddenly they were on the break and Juventus were exposed, Salah streaking away down the right and then bursting past the last Juventus defender, Padoin, and on to his left foot. He scorched away on to his left foot, driving inside, held off a challenge and then cracked a left-footed shot high into the net! Wow.
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11 min: The ball drops to Pogba on the edge of the area. Richards deflects his volley wide; Juventus are all over Fiorentina here, but nothing comes from the corner, and ...
9 min: Emails please!
7 min: Fiorentina make their way into the Juventus half for the first time and almost score! Joaquin breaks down the left and hangs an inviting ball to the far post, where Kurtic wallops a volley wide.
6 min: Juventus haven’t had a chance for about three seconds.
4 min: This is the Vidal Show. He lopes forward again, but this time he decides not to shoot and finds Pogba on the left of the area. Pogba wastes the opportunity.
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3 min: Fiorentina are cordially invited to take part in this football match.
2 min: Micah Richards makes a mess of a clearance down the left, allowing Padoin to whip a cross into the area. It reaches Vidal, 15 yards, out but he wallops a wild effort miles over the bar. Has he been sniffing raw steak before kick-off? Maybe! Moments later, Vidal is in again, causing havoc, bursting past his man on the left and cutting in on his right foot. He should score, but incredibly he rolls his shot past the far post, when he only had Neto to beat. What a miss!
And we’re off! Fiorentina, all in purple, get us underway, kicking from left to right in the first half. Juventus are dressed like a downmarket Newcastle in black and white stripes.
Here come the teams, walking out to a cheesy but catchy pop beat. What is that tune? Everyone should be forced to play to it.
It’s Italian football. So.
The teams!
Juventus: Storari; Caceres, Bonucci, Ogbonna, Padoin; Vidal, Marchisio, Pogba; Pepe, Llorente, Coman.
Fiorentina: Neto; Richards, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Basanta, Marcos Alonso; Aquilani, Badelj, Mati Fernandez; Joaquin, Mario Gomez, Salah
Ciao. These two might not be close geographically, but there’s no love lost between them. Juventus do not like Fiorentina and Fiorentina do not like Juventus, which I suppose makes them Italy’s answer to Brighton and Crystal Palace – and I bet you didn’t think you’d be seeing that comparison when you stumbled upon this live blog, having spent your day watching the third series of House of Cards in one sitting and realising that now you’ve got nothing better to do after your shame-filled binge, so you’d better stick around. You disgust me. In the same way that Juventus disgust Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion disgust Fiorentina. Confused? Good.
Anyway Fiorentina aren’t too fond of the Old Lady, unlike [snip! – Guardian lawyers], and they would enjoy nothing more than getting one over on them in this Coppa Italia semi-final. La Viola – check me out, European Football Experts – don’t like the way that Juventus, in many ways the underdog’s underdog, always seem to be one step ahead, whether it’s by pipping them to the league title in highly controversial circumstances in 1982 or by nabbing Roberto Baggio from them in 1990.
That is one transfer that did not go down well in Florence and so Fiorentina really would like to win this tie. But it will be far from straightforward in tonight’s first leg in Turin. Juventus are the best side in Italy by some distance and they are fearsome at home. They are top of Serie A, nine points above Roma, while Fiorentina are down in fifth place, 16 points off the pace and locked in a battle with Lazio and Napoli to qualify for the Champions League. Yet Vincenzo Montella’s side have players who can cause problems for the league leaders, so a cracking cup tie is on the cards. A place in the final is unlikely to be won easily by either side.
Kick-off: 7.45pm in England, 8.45pm in Turin.
