MILAN: Juventus will face Inter Milan in the last four of the Italian Cup after beating Lazio 1-0 in Thursday’s final quarter-final tie.
Gleison Bremer headed home the decisive goal a minute before half-time when he beat Lazio goalkeeper Luis Maximiano to Filip Kostic’s cross.
The Brazilian’s second goal of the season won a tight contest in Turin and set up a two-legged semifinal against Juve’s biggest rivals Inter.
Victory and a clean sheet came after a 2-0 home defeat by promoted Monza at the weekend which meant they had conceded 10 goals in their three most recent league matches.
“You need the right tactics and play but above all you need the right spirit,” said coach Massimiliano Allegri.
“We were coming off that Monza defeat so it wasn’t an easy situation for us... now we’ve laid the foundations to recover our league form as well.”
April’s semifinal will be crucial to Juve’s season as should they get past Inter, who beat Atalanta on Tuesday, they will be favorites for the win the final in May against either Fiorentina or Cremonese.
Winning the cup would qualify them for the Europa League and that is their most realistic route to continental competition next season after being hit with a 15-point penalty for illicit transfer activity last month.
Juventus are 14 points away from Serie A’s European spots and a further point off the Champions League places.
Juventus beat Lazio to reach Italian Cup semifinals
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Juventus beat Lazio to reach Italian Cup semifinals
- Juventus are 14 points away from Serie A’s European spots
Carrick relishing Frank reunion as Man Utd host Spurs
- Carrick has enjoyed a perfect start to life as interim United boss
- Frank remains under intense pressure in his first season at Spurs
LONDON: Michael Carrick will go head to head with Thomas Frank just months after interviewing the Tottenham manager for television as Manchester United seek a fourth successive Premier League win on Saturday.
Former Spurs, United and England midfielder Carrick has enjoyed a perfect start to life as interim United boss — beating Manchester City, Premier League leaders Arsenal and Fulham.
Next in line for United are Spurs, 14th in the table after a miserable Premier League season so far.
Carrick, who replaced the sacked Ruben Amorim last month, interviewed Frank ahead of the Dane’s first Champions League game in charge of Tottenham.
“(Life) certainly can change,” said Carrick as he reflected on the Amazon Prime interview in September. “I really enjoyed it, actually.
“We got on really well. It’s the first time I’ve met him properly and we had a good chat just about general kind of football things... I enjoyed it, so it will be good to see him again.”
Former Brentford boss Frank remains under intense pressure in his first season at Spurs despite their impressive Champions League campaign and a recent uptick in results.
Last week’s 2-2 draw at home to City extended their unbeaten run to four matches.
“They certainly bring a challenge,” Carrick said. “I think you can see especially the way they finished the game the other day.
“They’ve had players injured and ins and outs, and a lot of changes to the team, which makes things a lot more challenging, a lot more difficult from their perspective. But they’re getting players back.”
Tottenham won all four of their meetings against United last season, including May’s Europa League final in Bilbao.
Carrick hopes to end that run against a club at which he spent two seasons before moving to Old Trafford in 2006.
“Coming here (United) was a jump and a big jump at the time,” he said. I certainly felt that pretty quickly and then I think once you step inside this place as a footballer, it turns you.
“So, pretty much from the first day walking into the dressing room and meeting the manager, from then on in that was me.”
