Zambrotta Masterpiece Sees Juve Into Italian Cup Final
TURIN, Italy, Feb 6 (AFP) - A brilliant goal from Italian international winger Gianluca Zambrotta ensured Juventus held historic rivals AC Milan to a 1-1 draw here in an Italian Cup semi-final second leg match, ensuring a 3-2 aggregate victory and a place in the final against either Parma or Brescia.
Zambrotta's goal was a rare moment of beauty in a scrappy match played in driving rain at the Stadio Delle Alpi but it cancelled out Jose Mari's first-half goal for Milan and ensured that the Turin side progressed by virtue of their 2-1 win at the San Siro a fortnight ago.
Spaniard Jose Mari then made the breakthrough for Milan after 27 minutes with a score that levelled the aggregate scores.
Andrea Pirlo curled in a teasing pass and the Jose Mari headed the ball over Juve's advancing Uruguayan goalkeeper Fabian Carini into the net.
At half-time it was evenly poised and Juve coach Marcello Lippi responded by bringing on striker David Trezeguet for his French World Cup winning colleague Lilian Thuram, a defender.
On the hour the cigar-chomping coach played another attacking card when he introduced Alessandro Del Piero for Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved.
And just a minute later the tie swung back towards Juventus with a breathtaking goal.
Zambrotta picked the ball up on the right wing and played a one-two with Juve's Uruguayan striker Marcelo Zalayeta before continuing his run, cutting inside Milan's Danish defender Martin Laursen and firing a shot with his weaker left foot into Milan goalkeeper Sebastiano Rossi's top left-hand corner.
With five minutes remaining Milan missed a glorious chance to level the match. Their Brazilian winger Serginho crossed to Spanish substitute Javi Moreno who amazingly missed the target just two metres from goal.
It all added up to a miserable night for AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti who had hoped to wreak revenge on the club that sacked him last season in controversial circumstances, telling him he would be replaced by Lippi at the end of the season when Juve were still very much in the hunt for the Scudetto.
With Milan 11 points off the pace in Serie A the UEFA Cup - a trophy club vice-president Adriano Galliani considers a 'second division cup' - would now appear to be the only realistic hope of silverware for the 'Rossoneri' (red and blacks).
But Lippi's Juve are still very much on course for the treble of Champions League, Serie A and the Italian Cup.
On Thursday Parma will expect to ensure their progression to the final when they defend a 2-0 first-leg lead at Brescia deprived of the services of star striker Roberto Baggio who is ruled out of action for the rest of the season and who is reportedly contemplating his future in the sport.
