On March 5th, Fiorentina achieved what no team has been able to do at Juventus Stadium since Bayern Munich; that is, to defeat Juventus in Turin. Mohamed Salah was the man of the evening for Viola fans as his double was enough to seal a crucial win for Vincenzo Montella's men and set them up nicely for the upcoming return leg at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
CLASS: Watch as Mohamed Salah conquers Juventus Stadium in last month's Coppa Italia tie
As a result and not surprisingly, Bianconeri coach Massimiliano Allegri has made it pretty clear whom his team will have to shut down during his pre-match press conference:
.@OfficialAllegri: "Salah? E' un buon giocatore, la Fiorentina ha fatto un ottimo acquisto" #FiorentinaJuve #TimCup
— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) April 6, 2015
"Salah? He's a good player, Fiorentina made a great acquisition [this winter]"
He also did not mince his words when asked about his team's failings from last month:
"We will have to head to Florence to overturn a negative result from the first leg," he analysed.
"It [certainly] will not be easy as they have been playing some great football and are definitely the favourites. We'll have to play smart and be aware of a strong, technically-skilled team, whilst being extremely patient and cautious.
"This will not be a game that will be over in 30 minutes. We will need to be very calm, focused, and approach with clear heads."
However, the team will be pleased with the return of key midfielder Claudio Marchisio from injury, with his manager revealing that a few days' rest has been enough to do the trick. This will also obviously ease fans' worries after it was initially feared that the Italian would miss out the rest of the season due to early reports of a ruptured ACL:
.@OfficialAllegri: "@ClaMarchisio8 sta bene, è rientrato in gruppo. Qualche giorno di riposo gli ha fatto bene" #FiorentinaJuve #TimCup
— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) April 6, 2015
"Marchisio is doing well, he has returned to the squad. A few days of rest has been good for him"
Yet, despite having being called up, it remains to be seen whether he will feature, and unfortunately, neither fellow midfield stars Paul Pogba nor Andrea Pirlo will have recovered sufficiently to take to the pitch in which will certainly be a tough battle for the visitors.
Meanwhile, Vincenzo Montella's men have overall enjoyed a great run of form over the past month or so. After defeating Juventus, they successfully dumped Roma out of the Europa League by blasting past the Giallorossi 3-0 in the second leg and rebounded with a 2-2 draw with Udinese by defeating Sampdoria in their recent Serie A clash this past weekend.
Nonetheless, the former attacker would like his troops to keep their feet firmly planted on the ground.
"We are proud of our results so far, but we have not done anything yet," he noted in his press conference prior to today's game.
"[Against Juventus], it will be an open game and very difficult, [as we are facing] off against a team that is very competitive, both at home and on the road."
Statistically, both Juventus and Fiorentina have not had any difficulty with finding the back of the net in this season's Coppa Italia: the Bianconeri currently boast eight goals whilst the Viola have netted seven times.
In their last five meetings across all competitions, the result on March 5th was the first time Fiorentina have successfully defeated their Turin-based opponents and also managed to score more than one goal past the reigning Scudetto champions. Prior to then, the hosts had defeated the visitors 4-2 in a October 2013 Serie A clash that calcio fans certainly still have not forgotten - with a 15 minute hat-trick from Giuseppe Rossi - to overcome a 2-0 half-time deficit.
Yet, in Coppa Italia clashes, it will be Fiorentina hoping to make it two wins out of two for what would be the icing on the cake to complete that historic win last month, as it was the first time since May 1936 that the Viola had defeated la Vecchia Signora at home in this tournament.
Of course, at the end of 90 minutes - or perhaps more - one of these two sides will be preparing to take on the winner of Lazio or Napoli in the finals.
Will it be Juventus as they seek to attempt to lift this trophy, which has eluded them since 1995? Or will it be Fiorentina making another go at it after being outplayed and outclassed by Napoli at last year's final at the Stadio Olimpico that was marred by fan violence and general mayhem?
Fans of both teams and general Serie A neutrals definitely will not want to miss out on this one!
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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