Juventus Beat Lazio, Win Third Straight Coppa Italia

By Rilwan Musa Gawu -

Dani Alves and Leonardo Bonucci scored two first half goals as Juventus on Wednesday night defeated Lazio 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico to win their third straight Coppa Italia trophy.
Dani Alves scored Juventus’ first goal with a brilliant shot into the left side of the goal in the 12th minute after being released inside the box by a superb lofted pass from Alex Sandro.
Gonzalo Higuain was presented with a chance inside the Lazio box to extend the lead seven minutes later but his shot was too tame to cause any harm.
Leonardo Bonucci scored the Old Lady’s second of the night when he slotted the ball into the back of the net from an Alex Sandro knock down
Lazio had their fair of chances also. Ciro Immobile in the 33rd minute got to the end of a cross but directed his header narrowly wide of the left post. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s header from a corner did not produce a goal as the ball went straight to Juve’s Brazilian keeper, Neto.
Felipe Anderson and Immobile went close to scoring for Lazio in the early stages of the second half but Neto who was preferred for the Cup final by manager Maxmiliano Allegri to Gigi Buffon stopped their attempts in the 54th and 58th minutes.
Juventus reached the final after defeating Napoli 5-4 on aggregate in the semifinals stage while Lazio edged city rivals AS Roma 4-3 on aggregate to set up the final.

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