Juventus and AC Milan produced a dull restart to the football season in Italy after playing a goalless draw in the second-leg semi-final of the Coppa Italia 2019-20 at the Allianz Stadium in Turin on Friday.
The match, which marked the resumption of the top-flight football in Italy after a gap of almost three months due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, failed to produce any entertaining moments.
Although Juventus looked the better dominating side, the intent to get a breakthrough was lacking in both the sides. Cristiano Ronaldo had come closest to score the only goal of the night but he wasted the chance from the penalty spot.
The two sides had tied 1-1 after the first leg at San Siro on February 13, eight days before the pandemic broke out in the Lombardy region whose capital is Milan.
The game saw the players and the coaching staff observe a minute of silence for more than 34,000 people who died in Italy due to the coronavirus and in tribute to the health workers who are fighting the pandemic in the frontline.
“Starting again is hard and doing so without fans is an enormous difficulty,” Juventus manager Maurizio Sarri added after the match. “The physical condition can’t be anything but a medium-low level after a break of 70 days on the sofa, because this isn’t a summer break, it’s something much more devastating on a physical level and on a mental level.
“And then in moments of tiredness during the match you can’t count on the support of the fans to lift you up. But we managed to achieve our goal.”
Napoli will host Inter Milan at the San Paolo Stadium in Naples on Saturday for the other semi-final after winning the first-leg 1-0.
The final of the tournament, which is scheduled to be played at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico on June 17, will be first final of a top-flight football competition in the world after the COVID-19 hiatus.
Also on Friday, AC Milan said it has raised 650,000 euros to help fight coronavirus. “The fundraising program has also involved the Rossoneri family across the globe,” Juve said on its website.
Chinese Rossoneri fans in Sichuan and Guangzhou have donated 12,000 masks to Milan’s Policlinico Hospital, the team said.
With IANS inputs