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Juventus blitz Fiorentina to reach Cup final

Juventus thrashed Fiorentina 3-0 on Tuesday to overturn a 2-1 semi-final, first leg deficit and reach the Italian Cup final.

Juventus blitz Fiorentina to reach Cup final
Juventus players celebrate their win over Fiorentina. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

Despite missing star players Carlos Tevez and Paul Pogba, Juve crushed La Viola in the second leg in Florence through goals from Alessandro Matri, Roberto Pereyra and Leonardo Bonucci.

They will face either holders Napoli or Lazio in the final. Those sides are level at 1-1 from the first leg in Rome and meet in Naples on Wednesday.

Juve's deserved victory provided a welcome boost ahead of their Champions League quarter-final, first leg against Monaco next week. They simply proved too strong, physically, mentally and technically for Fiorentina.

And with a 14-point lead over second-placed Roma in Serie A, the reigning champions remain on course for a treble, last achieved by Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan in 2010.

Last year, Juve knocked Fiorentina out of the Europa League, winning 1-0 away following a home draw, and once again they proved ruthless on their travels.

Tevez's replacement Matri opened the scoring on 21 minutes after mopping up the loose ball when Pereyra's shot was blocked.

Pereyra was then on hand to knock home the rebound after goalkeeper Neto saved from Alvaro Morata just before half-time.

Due to the away goal rule, Juve went into the game knowing they had to score at least twice to avoid going out but with 45 minutes to play, they were a goal to the good on aggregate.

Bonucci's volley from a corner just before the hour mark killed off the match, with Fiorentina now needing to score three goals to progress as Juve had the away goals advantage at that juncture.

The only black mark for Massimiliano Allegri's men was a red card to Morata three minutes from time for a tackle from behind on Alessandro Diamanti.

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RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

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