Serie A champions Juventus and surprise package Atalanata meet on Wednesday at Allianz Stadium in Turin in the second leg of their Italian Cup semi-finals tie, just a few days after their league match got postponed due to bad weather. Juventus won the first leg 1-0 thanks to an early goal from Gonzalo Higuain, but Alejandro Gomez missed a penalty kick for Atalanta. The two teams have also met in a Serie A match in Bergamo in October and that one ended 2-2 as Atalanta fought back from 2-0 down.
Juventus are the big favourites to go through to the final of the Coppa Italia, their one-goal advantage from the first leg should be enough to see them through. However, they have other things to worry about as they are second in Serie A behind Napoli and their second leg match against Tottenham in the Champions League will be a very tough one after the first leg ended 2-2 in Turin. Mattia De Sciglio, Juan Cuadrado, Gonzalo Higuain and Federico Bernardeschi are all out injured, while Rodrigo Bentancur is suspended.
Atalanta have nothing left to lose at this point, they are out of the Europa League now and qualifying for an European competition through their Serie A placement seems quite unlikely this season. The Italian Cup is their best chance for European qualification, but they will have to beat Juventus first. That would be quite a surprise because Juventus have won all their last eight home matches against Atalanta. Andrea Petagna is the only injury doubt for the visitors, while Rafael Toloi is suspended.
Probable line-ups:
Juventus: Buffon - Lichtsteiner, Rugani, Chiellini, Sandro - Pjanic, Marchisio, Matuidi - Costa, Dybala, Mandzukic
Atalanta: Berisha - Palomino, Caldara, Masiello - Hateboer, Cristante, Freuler, Spinazzola - Gomez, Ilicic - Cornelius
My prediction: 1-1 draw.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Juventus win - 1.55
Draw - 3.79
Atalanta win - 6.50
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