Juventus advanced to the Italian Cup quarterfinals with a 4-0 home win against Cagliari on Tuesday. Dusan Vlahovic scored in the first half, and Teun Koopmeiners sealed the 15-time winners’ last-16 clash with a spectacular long-range free-kick. Francisco Conceicao and Nico Gonzalez scored late to cap an impressive performance by the Old Lady. “It was a good performance,” Juve’s coach Thiago Motta told Canale 5.
“These lads are going through an awful time in the right way, giving their all in every training session,” he said of his squad, who have had a stop-start domestic season and currently sit sixth in the league table.
Juve joins Lazio, Empoli, Bologna, and AC Milan in the next round of the cup. Atalanta, the Serie A leaders, play Cesena on Wednesday, while Roma face Sampdoria. Inter Milan, the reigning Scudetto champions, will visit Udinese on Thursday to finish the round of 16.
In Turin, Vlahovic put the home team ahead one minute before halftime after swiveling expertly on a pass to his feet from Kenan Yildiz and rolling the ball into the far corner. Summer signings In the 53rd minute, Koopmeiners scored his second goal for Juventus with a powerful left-footed free kick from 25 meters out.
Vlahovic had the ball in the net once more for Juve as they surged forward in pursuit of a third goal, but was denied each time by the assistant’s offside flag. Conceicao made it three in half an hour with a whipped goal after cutting in from the right wing, and Gonzalez added a fourth with one minute left.