How Juventus Hit “Rock Bottom” In Coppa Italia Loss To Empoli

Probably the last trophy Juventus had a chance of winning this term, the Coppa Italia had taken on significance for the Turin giants and yet they went out with a whimper, losing on penalties to Empoli.

Already out of the UEFA Champions League and eight points behind Serie A leaders Inter, this was a hard-hitting loss for a Bianconeri side that had won its last five domestic games going into the tie.

The most recent of those was a tense 1-0 victory over Cagliari – analysed here – at the weekend, which did little but add more names to Juve’s growing injury list. With Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal, Pierre Kalulu, Nicolò Savona and Renato Veiga already missing, Douglas Luiz has now been ruled out with a thigh problem.

Coming up against them were Serie A minnows Empoli, a side who had lost their last four league games including a 4-1 defeat to Juve earlier this month. With injury problems of their own, boss Roberto D’Aversa rested many of his regular XI and filled his side with backups and youth team players.

Juventus fall behind to Empoli

Those decisions looked like they would backfire after less than two minutes, only for Nico Gonzalez to put his attempt way over the crossbar after some great work from Randal Kolo Muani.

But that was just the start of a bad night for Gonzalez as the winger gave the ball away cheaply and then looked on as Youssef Maleh opened the scoring with a powerful effort from outside the box.

That gave the visitors confidence, Liam Henderson and Maleh combining to create a good chance for Ibrahim Konate, who had an even better opportunity just before half time only to see his shot rebound off the post.

Juventus equalise, but can’t capitalise

Even after the break Empoli continued to pour forward and Perin was immediately called into action to deny another vicious attempt from Maleh. At the other end, Juve were struggling to create any chance of note, and it took a moment of individual brilliance to get them back into the tie.

Beating Henderson with a wonderful flick of his heel, Khephren Thuram sent the ball one way while he went the other, collecting it perfectly before firing past the Empoli ‘keeper from a tight angle.

With chances at both ends, full-back Alberto Costa made his long awaited Juventus debut, but the two teams could not be separated and the game went directly to penalties. Dusan Vlahovic was up first, sending his spot kick high over the bar and giving Empoli – who beat Fiorentina on penalties in the previous round – all the impetus.

The next five kicks were all successful, and then on Juve’s fourth attempt, Devis Vasquez guessed right and turned Kenan Yildiz’s penalty around the post. That left 20-year-old Luca Marianucci with a chance to win the tie, and he made no mistake to fire past Mattia Perin and eliminate the holders.

Thiago Motta furious with Juventus

Empoli will now face Bologna in their first ever semi final appearance, while AC Milan take on Inter in the other half of the draw but that is of little consequence to Thiago Motta who was brutally honest in his post-match interviews.

“I honestly feel ashamed of what we saw in the first half and I hope my players feel the same,” the Juve boss told Mediaset. “We cannot get this attitude so wrong. It was embarrassing and evidently it was my fault, as I did not show my players the importance of the game or what this shirt means.

“We are not in the semi-final because we did not deserve to be. Talking about mentality at this moment means understanding where you are, what you need to do, why you must deserve it every day and not just expect things to happen without giving your all.

“We assumed today that we’d get through and we gave nothing on that pitch,” Motta continued. “We got the one thing wrong you absolutely cannot do at this club and that is the attitude. We played back to the goalkeeper 20 times at least, without taking responsibility, without going forward, always looking to someone else. This is inexcusable.

“We can only apologise to our fans, apologise to the club, apologise to the history of this club, because we really hit rock bottom today.”

Strong words, and words Motta will hope ignite his side ahead of vital games in the league. With nothing else left to play for, a top four finish is essential for both the Coach and his Juventus project, as qualifying for the UEFA Champions League becomes the only tangible goal remaining for the first-year boss.