Coppa Italia: Last 16

The Coppa Italia round of 16 continued last night as Roma beat Triestina 3-1, after initially falling behind to an early goal from the away side. Goals from Brighi, Vucinic and Baptista saw them through to the quarter finals. They join Inter who saw of Livorno by 1-0 thanks to a Wesley Sneijder free kick in december.

Today and tomorrow sees some fascinating ties with some David v Goliath battles among them. Today at 3pm UK time AC Milan face Novara at home. Novara, top of Serie C1 A are currently unbeaten this season. They have set the pace in the lega pro, as reported here, right from the start and so far in the Coppa have taken out Parma and Siena. Some 7,000 Novara fans are set to make the journey to Milan for this once in a life time clash. But, is it once in a life time. In Serie C1 A at the moment they are 5 points ahead of second and 9 points ahead of third. Serie B beckons, and once you get in there you are only one season away from the big league. They will enjoy their moment today, win loose or draw.

Elsewhere today Juventus face Napoli in a mamoth clash in Turin, as the sides are locked next to each other in the table. Napoli in my view start as favourites. They have already won here in the league and Juve are a shambles at the moment. Genoa also face Catania again today, having beaten them 2-0 in the league on Sunday.

Tomorrow sees another lega pro side face a Serie A one, as Udinese taken on Lumezzane. 10th in the lega pro at the moment, the Lombardy based side will also have their moment of glory against a Serie A side. A win here, possible against a struggling Udinese, would take them onto a huge match in the next round against either Milan or Novara. Fiorentina also face Chievo in an all Serie A clash that will be tough to call, while defending Champions Lazio take on Palermo and their manager Delio Rossi, the man who took Lazio all the way last season. Interesting stuff.

So who could face who in the next round?

Top half of the draw
Fiorentina or Chievo will take on either Lazio or Palermo
Inter will take on either Juventus or Napoli

Bottom half of the draw
Milan or Novara will take on either Udinese or Lumezzane
Genoa or Catania will take on Roma

So, the winners of the quarters will go onto the semi's and play the respective winners of their half of the draw. So, we could when all is said and done end up with a Rome or Milan derby in the final or Inter v Roma, the final that dominated this competition before last year.