Juventus edge closer to Cup final after Lazio victory

Juventus were jeered off the pitch at halftime on Wednesday (AEDT) but Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic scored after the break to give the Bianconeri their first win in 10 matches.

The second leg is on April 23. Atalanta plays Fiorentina on Thursday in the other semi.

Juventus had lost in Rome against Lazio in the league on Saturday, in Igor Tudor's first match in charge of the capital side.

Vlahovic was suspended for that game but returned to the starting line-up in Turin.

Juventus thought they had a chance to take an early lead when awarded a penalty for a foul by Lazio midfielder Matias Vecino on Andrea Cambiaso but the referee revoked his decision after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor due to an offside.

Lazio almost broke the deadlock shortly before halftime as Juve goalkeeper Mattia Perin appeared to think Luis Alberto's header was going out but it came off the crossbar.

Instead it was Juventus that took the lead five minutes after the break when Chiesa raced onto a through ball by Cambiaso and fired it into the bottom right corner.

That seemed to fire Juventus up and they doubled their tally in the 64th minute as Weston McKennie flicked on a pass for Vlahovic, who befuddled his marker with a stepover before drilling into the far bottom corner.

It was Vlahovic's 16th goal of the season and his 10th in as many matches.

Australian Associated Press