Fiorentina 0-1 Juventus: Player ratings as Bianconeri snatch fortunate late winner
By Tom Gott
Juventus were woeful in Wednesday's Coppa Italia semi-final first leg against Fiorentina but somehow came away with a 1-0 victory thanks to a late own goal from Lorenzo Venuti.
Fiorentina began the game on top and should have taken the lead 15 minutes in. Mattia Perin's poor clearance landed at the feet of Giacomo Bonaventura, who couldn't keep his composure in front of an empty net and sliced his effort over the bar.
Jonathan Ikone then wasted his own chance to open the scoring. The January signing burst down the right wing and struck his shot across Perin's goal, but could not guide his effort inside the post.
Ikone had the first chance of the second half after just a few minutes. He turned inside of Mattia De Sciglio and tried to bend a strike into the top corner but could only watch it hit the outside of the post and fly wide.
It proved to be one of a very small number of chances in the second 45. Fiorentina were comfortably on top but couldn't make the most of their dominance, shooting wide or overhitting passes in the final third.
Fiorentina had 21 shots on goal compared to Juventus' six, but 15 of those were off-target, in what was a clinic in how not to score.
With the clock winding down and as it looked like we'd all wasted 90 minutes of our lives, Juventus secured the unlikeliest of winners. Juan Cuadrado's cross was tame but deflected off Lorenzo Venuti, whose desperate lunge was not enough to keep the ball from crossing the line and handing Juventus the win against the run of play.
Here are the Juve ratings.
Juventus player ratings vs Fiorentina
1. Goalkeeper & defenders
Mattia Perin (GK) - 5/10 - Some really bad passing. His shirt was too big. Looked weird.
Mattia De Sciglio (CB) - 5/10 - His lack of pace was exposed by Ikone but he wasn't the worst player on the pitch.
Danilo (CB) - 5/10 - Spent more of his time in midfield but still couldn't help Juventus take control.
Matthijs de Ligt (CB) - 7/10 - Easily the best player on the team. Threw himself at everything and was the only reason Juventus didn't concede in the first half.
2. Midfielders
Marley Ake (RM) - 3/10 - Quite sad to watch really. Such a fun player but saw his influence restricted by Allegri's system. Replaced by Cuadrado at the break.
Arthur (CM) - 5/10 - Played deepest in midfield to try and pull the strings but didn't always get his passing right.
Manuel Locatelli (CM) - 5/10 - Lost a lot of his mojo these days, which makes him a proper Juventus midfielder.
Adrien Rabiot (CM) - 4/10 - Randomly hit an awful cross just a few minutes in, setting the tone for another meh performance. Drove well from deep but looked terrified when he got to the box.
Luca Pellegrini (LM) - 4/10 - Could see he was really trying but he just didn't get going at all.
3. Forwards
Moise Kean (ST) - 3/10 - Really underwhelming. Couldn't get on the ball much and didn't get anything right when he did. Subbed off for Morata before the hour mark.
Dusan Vlahovic (ST) - 4/10 - Probably would've had a hat-trick if he was still playing for Fiorentina. Absolutely starved of service but didn't actually do much wrong... because he didn't do much.
4. Substitutes
Juan Cuadrado (RM) - 6/10
Alvaro Morata (ST) - 5/10