Coppa Italia Quarters: A Flurry of Reds

Both Inter and Roma — last year’s finalists — had players sent off within the first 20 minute of their Coppa Italia quarterfinal matches this week, but both survived intact, and head into next week’s return legs on the back of hard-fought draws.

Roma lost central defender Philippe Mexes to a pair of horribly timed tackles, both of which earned yellows and combined to get him his walking papers in the 18th minute, while Inter’s Nico Burdisso was sent off in the eight minute thanks to a tackle from behind on Juventus’ Alex Del Piero. The tackle was actually fairly innocuous, but it was so late and so desperate that it earned a straight red; even Burdisso didn’t complain.

In Genoa, despite being a man down, Roma played well against oldboy Antonio Cassano (you remember him), easily holding their own and getting right back into the game through Mirko Vucinic after Samp’s Reto Ziegler had put the home side into the lead. Given that they had 10 men, a second-choice keeper, and a backline featuring just a single true centerback, Roma will be very comfortable going into next week’s home leg with a 1-1 score and an away goal under their belts.

Inter, meanwhile, are probably less pleased with themselves. No matter how good a 10-man, 2-2 draw against a rival like Juventus looks on paper — even when both teams are playing makeshift sides, there’s no love lost between them — it’s hard not to be disappointed when you were up 2-0 with 20 minutes to go, and seemingly had the game in hand, which is what happened to Inter on Wednesday. After being dominated for the scoreless first half, Inter went ahead through two sharp finished by Julio Cruz, only to see their win snatched away by late goals from Del Piero and, of all people, the useless-in-any-nation Jean-Alain Boumsong.

In the other two quarterfinal matches, Lazio scored a 2-1 home win over Fiorentina, and Udinese went behind at home before storming back in the second half to beat Catania 3-2.

The return legs will be played next week:
Roma-Samp (Tuesday)
Juve-Inter (Wednesday)
Fiorentina-Lazio (Wednesday)
Catania-Udine (Wednesday)

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Category: Serie A, World Football