No Andrea Pirlo or Paul Pogba? No Problem for Deep Juventus Midfield

As Juventus travelled to the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Tuesday for the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final, they did so fully aware of the task lying in wait for them.

Fiorentina were—aside from perhaps only Lazio—Serie A’s most in-form side, tasting defeat just once in their previous 19 outings as they climbed up to fourth place in the table.

They also held a 2-1 advantage in the semi-final. Mohamed Salah’s brace handed them a serious edge after the first leg in Turin, their chances of reaching next month’s final extremely high. Vincenzo Montella’s side were further boosted by the news that both Carlos Tevez and Stephan Lichtsteiner had been ruled out as kick-off approached, adding to an already damaging list of injuries for the visitors.

Maurizio Degl' Innocenti/Associated Press

As well as the aforementioned pair, Massimiliano Allegri has been forced to cope without long-term absentees Kwadwo Asamoah and Romulo, each yet to feature for the club in 2015. Worse still were knocks to Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba, robbing the Juventus coach of two of his best players as they sought to end a 20-year drought in the domestic cup competition.

Yet 90 minutes later, the referee’s whistle not only signalled full-time but also drew to an end what had been a superb performance from the reigning Italian champions.

The contribution of Alessandro Matri vindicated Allegri’s decision to start him in attack, but it was the show of force elsewhere which was arguably the most impressive aspect of this victory.

The 3-0 scoreline was fully reflective of Juve's superiority, a remarkable display considering those notable absentees, and those who did take the field should be hugely proud of what they achieved.

The match has received huge praise in the Italian press, as can be seen below on the cover of the Corriere dello Sport, one of the peninsula’s daily sports newspapers:

It was in midfield where the Bianconeri exerted themselves most, with Arturo Vidal once again showing he is returning to his best form. According to WhoScored.com, the Chilean made no fewer than six tackles and three interceptions, the former figure a game high.

There were also impressive contributions from two lesser-known names, as both Roberto Pereyra and Stefano Sturaro turned in faultless performances in a hugely important fixture. The Argentinian not only scored the vital second goal, but his running both on and off the ball caused continuous problems for the Viola defence.

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Pereyra's goal. #FiorentinaJuve https://t.co/pqp4DO8YAb

— Khaled Al Nouss (@KhaledAlNouss) April 7, 2015"

Constantly putting them on the back foot, the 24-year-old supplied a steady stream of crosses for Alvaro Morata and Matri, with WhoScored showing he connected with 93.8 percent of his passes.

It was a similar story for Storaro, with the young Italian again showing why Juventus were so keen to bring him in from Genoa back in January.

The same source shows that the 22-year-old was strong in the tackle but possessed the energy to then push forward and support the attack. The game was a continuation of the good start he has made in Turin.

Allegri was clearly impressed with the way those players stepped up, extolling their virtues as he spoke to the press shortly after the final whistle.

“This is the proof that the players are all strong and put themselves at the disposal of the team with their own characteristics when needed,” the coach told Rai Sport (h/t Football Italia).

It was indeed, and thanks to the likes of Matri, Pereyra and Sturaro, Juventus secured their place in the Coppa Italia final even without the likes of Tevez, Pogba and Pirlo.