Its been a fascinating three days of action from the Coppa Italia, which has seen nearly all of the involved teams take this competition with a serious attitude. Roma blasted past Triestina 3-1 on Tuesday night, with Brighi, Vucinic and Baptista from a free kick on the score sheet to set up a clash with Genoa's conquerors Catania in the quarter finals. Roma may not fancy the trip to Catania, its not been a happy hunting ground for them in recent years. However, both sides will see this as a great opportunity to set up a clash with Milan in the Semi finals. Catania themselves beat Genoa 2-1 away from home, scoring twice through Plasmati in the early going. Rossi pulled on back for Genoa, but they finished the game with nine men as Sinisa Mihajlovic's men set up their clash with Roma.
Milan made their passage to the quarter finals by beatingt Novara 2-1 on Wednesday afternoon. Novara, the leaders of Serie C1A had the honour of being the only undefeated team in Italian football up until the clash with Milan. But, their endeavour and backing of their 7,000 fans who packed the bottom team of the San Siro's Curva Nord almost kept this run going. Pippo Inzaghi put Milan ahead but Novara just after the break leveled with a goal worthy of such a Stadium. They pushed Milan hard but Mathieu Flamini's outstanding finish from 25 yards killed the dream of the small town of Novara and with it the romance of a small team in the quarters.
Udinese set up a meeting with Milan by beating Lumezzane, another Serie C1A side, 2-0. Lodi converted from the spot in the first half, and Corradi doubled the lead in the second half.
Napoli had the chance to further compound Juve's misery last night, but their second string line up just didn't have the quality to answer Juve. Diego put them ahead in the first half, and a Del Piero brace ended the Neopolitan dream late on. Marek Hamsik came of the bench to fire a 30 yard missile off the bar when it was 1-0. How different it could have ended had that strike been 1 inch lower. Juve with meet Inter, who qualified for this stage in December.
Fiorentina also made their way through by beating Chievo 3-2 in arguably the best game of the round. An Adrian Mutu brace, and a goal from 16 year old Babacar of Senegal gave Fiorentina the passport to play against Lazio, who disposed of Palermo 2-0 tonight, in the quarter final. Indeed, Lazio with goals from Kolarov and Floccari, his 4th in 3 games for Lazio, sealed a berth in the quarters for Lazio once again. The defending Champions looked uneasy for most of the first half, although never really looked like conceding. Muslera did pull of a great save from Javier Pastore, but Lazio made their pressure count with two second half goals. Still, Lazio are in need of re-enforcements if they are to go all the way once again. The midfield is a tired one, lacking all too often of ideas and moments of brilliance to open up space. Luca Cigarini of Napoli has been linked again in recent days, and with Mario Bolatti of to Fiorentina it would seem legitimate options are becoming slimmer for the Aquile. Nonetheless, this win should inspire confidence against a slumping Atalanta side at the weekend.
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