It’s Coppa Time Again, Or: See Ya, Tiago

By: Martha | January 16th, 2008

Juventus love In the only Coppa Italia match played yesterday, Juve managed to overcome both Empoli and the presence of Jean-Alain Boumsong (He lives!) and Tiago Mendes in their own team to win 5-3, a result that put them through to the quarters by the completely loony aggregate score of 6-5.

Despite going down to 10 men with 15 minutes left, Empoli gave Juve a fright and played their asses off, often looking incredibly good going forward. Part of that, surely, is down to their talent, and the transformative effect — in the sort-term, at least — that new coach Alberto Malesani has had on his team and their confidence. The other part, though, had to do with Juve, and them being crap at the back, particularly after Giorgio Chiellini went down with a knee injury.

Never one to let his team (who apparently only tried because they want to play Inter in the next round) get away with anything, Claudio Ranieri’s press conference after the match included pointed references to the rubbish defending and, frighteningly for a certain gloomy Portuguese, specific mention of one player’s suckitude. Said Ranieri, “I wasn’t happy with Tiago as I expected more from him. I took him off because he was playing badly. Often he chose to play backwards instead of going forward and he performed without personality.” God damn, is that harsh. Ranieri definitely doesn’t call out players unless they’re really asking for it, but in the particular case he might wish he’d considered his words more carefully. I mean, how are they going to get a good price for the guy if he’s goes around calling him shit in the press?

Today’s Coppa matches:
•Roma v Torino (Toro lead 3-1)
•Fiorentina v Ascoli (1-1 after the first leg)
•Palermo-Udinese (0-0 after the first leg)
•Catania-Milan (Catania lead 2-1)
•Sampdoria-Cagliari (Cagliari lead 1-0)