Vlahović returns to help Juventus beat Lazio 2-0 in 1st leg of Italian Cup semifinal
TURIN, Italy (AP) — Juventus remained on course for a record-extending 15th Italian Cup title by beating Lazio 2-0 in the first leg of their semifinal on Tuesday.
Juventus was jeered off the pitch at halftime but Federico Chiesa and Dušan Vlahović scored after the break to give the Bianconeri its first win in 10 matches.
The second leg is on April 23. Atalanta plays Fiorentina on Wednesday in the other semifinal.
Juventus had lost at Lazio in the league on Saturday, in Igor Tudor’s first match in charge of the capital side.
Vlahović was suspended for that game but returned to the starting lineup Tuesday.
Juventus thought it had a chance to take an early lead when it was awarded a penalty for a foul by Lazio midfielder Matías Vecino on Andrea Cambiaso but the referee revoked his decision after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor because the Juventus player had been offside.
Lazio almost broke the deadlock shortly before halftime as Juventus goalkeeper Mattia Perin appeared to think Luis Alberto’s header was going out but it came off the crossbar.
Instead it was Juventus that took the lead five minutes after the break when Chiesa raced onto a through ball by Cambiaso and fired it into the bottom right corner.
That seemed to fire Juventus up and it doubled its tally in the 64th minute as Weston McKennie flicked on a pass for Vlahović, who befuddled his marker with a stepover before drilling into the far bottom corner.
It was Vlahović’s 16th goal of the season and his 10th in as many matches.
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