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After Juventus\u2019 elimination from the Champions League last week, the Coppa Italia was the most plausible route to silverware for Juventus this season. With their path to the final far easier than any of the other top teams left in the competition, the holders had to be considered favorites in the competition.<\/p>\n
Were it that someone had told them that before the took the field against Empoli on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
It took Juve more than half the game to realize that they were among the favorites to defend their title playing against a team that was making only its fourth appearance in the quarterfinals in their history, hadn\u2019t won a match since early December, was in the thick of the relegation fight, and was coming off a humiliating 5-0 drubbing on their home field by Atalanta. They held almost 70 percent of the possession during that half, but did jack squat with it. It took 52 minutes for them to finally put a shot on target, while Empoli burst out in front with a goal from a long shot halfway through the first half.<\/p>\n
Eventually managing to respond and tie the score with 25 minutes left, the Bianconeri weren\u2019t able to push through a winning goal despite sustained pressure on Empoli\u2019s goal, and paid for it in the shootout when two of their biggest star names missed penalties in flaccid fashion, ushering them out of the competition 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.<\/p>\n
Juve manager Thiago Motta \u2014 stop me if you\u2019ve heard this one before \u2014 was facing a serious selection crunch in defense. Pierre Kalulu, Renato Veiga, and Nicol\u00f2 Savona were all out injured, as was Douglas Luiz, while Arkadiusz Milik\u2019s long walk in the wilderness continued. Motta rolled out his usual 4-2-3-1 setup. Mattia Perin was given the starting assignment in the Coppa as was usual, with Timothy Weah, Federico Gatti, Lloyd Kelly, and Andrea Cambiaso arrayed in defense. Teun Koopmeiners and Kh\u00e9phren Thuram played in the midfield pivot. Motta\u2019s tactical curveball on the day was in attack, where Randal Kolo Muani and Dusan Vlahovic played together from the start for the first time. Kolo Muani played on the right wing, joining Weston McKennie and Nico Gonz\u00e1lez behind Vlahovic on the point.<\/p>\n
Empoli\u2019s Roberto D\u2019Aversa was also dealing with a serious injury crisis that forced him to play three teenagers in his starting lineup. Tino Anjorin, Jacopo Fazzini, Mattia Viti, Ola Solbakken, Nicolas Haas, Tyronne Ebuehi, Saba Sazonov and Pietro Pellegri were all unavailable, while Ardian Ismajli pushed through an injury in the starting XI. D\u2019Aversa\u2019s 3-5-2 was anchored by Devis V\u00e1squez, protected by Luca Marianucci, Ismajli, and Lorenzo Tosto. Junior Sambia and Liberato Cacace were at wing-back, bracketing Youssef Maleh, Jacopo Bacci, and Liam Henderson started in midfield. Lornezo Colombo and Ismael Konate made up the strike pair.<\/p>\n