Roma surprises Juventus in Coppa Italia Femminile with 2-1. Giallo-rosse achieved their first win ever against Juventus and get themselves a nice advantage before the return leg.
The hosts started aggressively and broke the deadlock after just two minutes: after a combination on the right side Andressa Alves served Annamaria Serturini at the opposite end who managed to become the first player that beat Laura Giuliani in 2021. The visitors tried to react on the quarter-hour mark with Pedersen, but the Dane’s left-footed shot went wide. Rita Guarino’s side pace was too slow to cause any trouble to the compact Roma’s defence who managed to finish the first half with a 1-0 lead.
🟥🟧🟨 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗜 🟨🟧🟥
L'andata della semifinale di Coppa Italia la vinciamo noi!
2' @AnnaSerturini
49' Hurtig
87' @Lindsey_T19 #ASRoma #ASRomaFemminile pic.twitter.com/jLrbA2OccW— AS Roma Femminile (@ASRomaFemminile) March 13, 2021
At the start of the second half, the guests pushed more and managed to get the equalizer in 49th minute. The substitute Barbara Bonansea put a perfect cross in for Lina Hurtig who put Juventus back in the game. The Swedish international had muscular problems and was substituted. But that was not the end of Bianco-nere problems. Cristiana Girelli was taken off the field on stretches after an aerial duel. The hosts tried to take advantage of the double injury of their rivals and put their midfield under pressure. In the 74th minute, Linda Sembrant prevented Roma from getting back in the lead with a clearance from the line. However, Roma were looking for another goal and in the 88th minute they were rewarded: Giuliani managed to deny the first attempt, but Lindsey Thomas managed to score for an important win.
FT | ⏱| The first-leg ends 2-1 in Rome, but we secure an important away goal.#RomaJuve (2-1) #ForzaJuve pic.twitter.com/jFOYNSAShR
— Juventus FC Women (@JuventusFCWomen) March 13, 2021
Roma became the first Italian team, after Sassuolo in March 2019, to defeat Juventus in almost two years. With nothing decided yet, we are looking towards the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal which will take place on 24th or 25th of April. The second semifinal between Inter and Milan will take place tomorrow at 12.30 CET.
Reactions
“The satisfaction is not so much for beating Juventus but for seeing a great performance from the team. There have been some bad moments but they showed a great spirit. The girls took the lead, they didn’t get demoralized after the equalizer and continued to suffer to make the most of the opportunities they created.” – Betty Bavagnoli, AS Roma head coach
“We must congratulate Roma, who played a great game and got the result. We were not as good as usual in playing our game with calmness and patience and we did not take advantage of the opportunities. The game was balanced, but we didn’t express all our quality which is important against a team like Roma. Now we’re thinking about our injured players, we’re waiting to see the extent of the injury in the next few days. We hope they will recover soon. Now we’ll bounce back with work, trying to understand our mistakes and improve ourselves.” – Rita Guarino, Juventus coach
Score
AS Roma – Juventus 2-1 (1-0)
Scorers: 2′ Annamaria Serturini (R), 49′ Lina Hurtig (J), 88′ Lindsey Thomas (R)
Yellow cards: 26’ Arianna Caruso (J), 42’ Vanessa Bernauer (R)