In arguably the best edition of the Coppa Italia for years, the semi-final line up consists of four of the top five in Serie A. With Juventus’ stranglehold on the league; you could argue the rest of Serie A see this as the only realistic way of winning silverware. Only two Serie B sides made it to the round of last 16 and only Cesena made it to the quarter finals, but the semi finals hold two mouth watering ties.

 

Current Coppa holders Juventus welcome Napoli to the fortress that is the Juventus stadium. Il Bianconeri have not lost a Coppa match since 21st January 2014 and look to become the only team in the competition’s history to win it for three consecutive seasons’. Hard fought wins over Atalanta and AC Milan have already shown that Allegri’s men are not willing to let go of the trophy just yet. A look at the team sheet for both games will tell you that La Vecchia Signora wants to create another piece of domestic history, Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higiuan, Mario Mandzukic and Leonardo Bonnuci are just some of the names that featured in those wins as the Turin side continue their domination of the domestic scene.

 

Napoli having suffered two back to back defeats firstly against Real Madrid in the Champions League and then a 0-2 defeat at home to Atalanta in Serie A, will have to buck the trend of recent history having not won against Juventus away since their Coppa Italia match during the 2011/12 season. With the goals of Dries Mertens seemingly evaporating, it could be an opportunity for Arkadiusz Milik to make his first start since his knee injury which he sustained with Poland in October. A much needed boost to a season that is in danger of petering out.

 

In the other semi final the two sides from Rome come face to face in Il Derby della Capitale.

 

Roma struggled past Cesena in the last round will be the nominated “away” side in the first encounter. Luciano Spalletti’s men hold an unbeaten seven game streak in league and cup against their city rivals which stretches back to their Coppa Italia final defeat in 2012/13. Roma are the second most successful club in the competitions history with nine wins but their last victory was back in the 2007/08 edition. Two legged ties seem to be an Achilles heel for the Giallorossi this season with decent away performances followed by bad home games as in the games against Porto and Villarreal in the Champions League and Europa League. Hopefully the fact that both games are at the Stadio Olimpico will eradicate this problem as their search for silverware enters its ninth season.

 

Lazio last won the competition in 2012/13 when they beat their city rivals in the final, and under Simone Inzaghi the Biancocelesti have been a revelation. Having dispatched Genoa and Inter in the previous rounds, Inzaghi and his men have not had the easiest passage to this stage of the competition; coming back after losing a two goal lead against Genoa and beating Inter with ten men shows the importance of this competition to them. What better way to get to a final than beating your local and biggest rivals and end a winless streak stretching back four years.




Mark Neale