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Juventus blitz Fiorentina to reach Cup final

Juventus thrashed Fiorentina 3-0 on Tuesday to overturn a 2-1 semi-final, first leg deficit and reach the Italian Cup final.

Published: 8 April 2015 08:40 CEST

Juventus blitz Fiorentina to reach Cup final

Juventus players celebrate their win over Fiorentina. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

Despite missing star players Carlos Tevez and Paul Pogba, Juve crushed La Viola in the second leg in Florence through goals from Alessandro Matri, Roberto Pereyra and Leonardo Bonucci.

They will face either holders Napoli or Lazio in the final. Those sides are level at 1-1 from the first leg in Rome and meet in Naples on Wednesday.

Juve's deserved victory provided a welcome boost ahead of their Champions League quarter-final, first leg against Monaco next week. They simply proved too strong, physically, mentally and technically for Fiorentina.

And with a 14-point lead over second-placed Roma in Serie A, the reigning champions remain on course for a treble, last achieved by Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan in 2010.

Che gruppo questa Juve! #FiorentinaJuve pic.twitter.com/hthNUsHzzC

— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) April 7, 2015

Last year, Juve knocked Fiorentina out of the Europa League, winning 1-0 away following a home draw, and once again they proved ruthless on their travels.

Tevez's replacement Matri opened the scoring on 21 minutes after mopping up the loose ball when Pereyra's shot was blocked.

Pereyra was then on hand to knock home the rebound after goalkeeper Neto saved from Alvaro Morata just before half-time.

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.

Bonucci's volley from a corner just before the hour mark killed off the match, with Fiorentina now needing to score three goals to progress as Juve had the away goals advantage at that juncture.

The only black mark for Massimiliano Allegri's men was a red card to Morata three minutes from time for a tackle from behind on Alessandro Diamanti.

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FC Barcelona's Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas poses after being awarded thewomen's Ballon d'Or award.

FC Barcelona's Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas poses after being awarded thewomen's Ballon d'Or award. Photo: FRANCK FIFE / AFP

Putellas is the third winner of the prize, following in the footsteps of Ada Hegerberg, who won the inaugural women’s Ballon d’Or in 2018, and United States World Cup star Megan Rapinoe, winner in 2019.

Putellas captained Barcelona to victory in this year’s Champions League, scoring a penalty in the final as her side hammered Chelsea 4-0 in Gothenburg.

She also won a Spanish league and cup double with Barca, the club she joined as a teenager in 2012, and helped her country qualify for the upcoming Women’s Euro in England.

Her Barcelona and Spain teammate Jennifer Hermoso finished second in the voting, with Sam Kerr of Chelsea and Australia coming in third.

It completes an awards double for Putellas, who in August was named player of the year by European football’s governing body UEFA.

But it’s also a huge win for Spain as it’s the first time in 61 years that a Spanish footballer – male or female – is crowned the world’s best footballer of the year, and only the second time in history a Spaniard wins the Ballon d’Or.

Former Spanish midfielder Luis Suárez (not the ex Liverpool and Barça player now at Atlético) was the only Spanish-born footballer to win the award in 1960 while at Inter Milan. Argentinian-born Alfredo Di Stefano, the Real Madrid star who took up Spanish citizenship, also won it in 1959.

Who is Alexia Putellas?

Alexia Putellas grew up dreaming of playing for Barcelona and after clinching the treble of league, cup and Champions League last season, her status as a women’s footballing icon was underlined as she claimed the Ballon d’Or on Monday.

Unlike the men’s side, Barca’s women swept the board last term with the 27-year-old, who wears “Alexia” on the back of her shirt, at the forefront, months before Lionel Messi’s emotional departure.

Attacker Putellas, who turns 28 in February, spent her childhood less than an hour’s car journey from the Camp Nou and she made her first trip to the ground from her hometown of Mollet del Valles, for the Barcelona derby on January 6, 2000.

Barcelona's Spanish midfielder Alexia Putellas (R) vies with VfL Wolfsburg's German defender Kathrin Hendrich — Putellas plays as a striker for Barça and Spain. GABRIEL BOUYS / POOL / AFP

Exactly 21 years later she became the first woman in the modern era to score in the stadium, against Espanyol. Her name was engraved in the club’s history from that day forward, but her story started much earlier.

She started playing the sport in school, against boys.

“My mum had enough of me coming home with bruises on my legs, so she signed me up at a club so that I stopped playing during break-time,” Putellas said last year.

So, with her parent’s insistence, she joined Sabadell before being signed by Barca’s academy.

“That’s where things got serious… But you couldn’t envisage, with all one’s power, to make a living from football,” she said.

After less than a year with “her” outfit, she moved across town to Espanyol and made her first-team debut in 2010 before losing to Barca in the final of the Copa de la Reina.

She then headed south for a season at Valencia-based club Levante before returning “home” in July 2012, signing for Barcelona just two months after her father’s death.

In her first term there she helped Barca win the league and cup double, winning the award for player of the match in the final of the latter competition.

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