Coppa Italia, Cagliari beats Cremonese and goes to the eighth finals

Cagliari is struggling to get going in the league, but for now it is flying in the Coppa Italia. At Unipol Domus, in the second match of the round of 32, Nicola’s boys win 1-0 against Cremonese, thanks to a goal by Lapadula in the second half. In December, the Sardinians will face Juventus in the round of 16. A well-deserved passage to the next round for Cagliari, dominant in the second half, but too wasteful in the final meters: the result could have been much more severe for Cremonese.

As for the lineups, both teams decide to rest some of their starters. After the first quarter of an hour of running-in, Cagliari takes control of the match and starts to grind out the game, especially taking advantage of the side lanes. Among the Sardinian ranks, the liveliest are Augello, Felici and Azzi. The latter, however, in the 19th minute, spectacularly misses the open-net goal: after Saro’s deflection, the ball unfortunately ricochets off the former Modena player and ends up just wide. In the 26th minute it’s the turn of striker Lapadula, who scares the Grigiorossi, coordinating himself on the fly and hitting the post. In the second half, Cremonese starts better, taking advantage of a more unstable Cagliari in defense.

Milanese and De Luca rely on outside shots, but they are unable to worry Sherri. After a few minutes of suffering, Cagliari reinvigorates and hits Cremonese, thanks to a lethal counterattack. In the 60th minute, from the left, Augello crosses for Lapadula, who is good at slipping between Moretti and Lochoshvili and deflecting the ball into the net from a few steps away. The substitutions of Viola and Piccoli were crucial in finding the 1-0, and they definitely raised the quality of the Sardinians’ game.

Three minutes later, Saro excels himself, reading Lapadula’s attempted lob and denying him a brace: the visitors’ goalkeeper also saves Piccoli’s subsequent right-footed shot from outside the area. Possession is now firmly in Cagliari’s hands, who flirt with 2-0 several times, but fail to deliver the final blow to their opponents. In the 78th minute, Luvumbo misses a goal all alone in front of Saro: Viola’s shot from the edge follows shortly after, but it goes just wide. In the final minutes, Cremonese fails to find any spark and is eliminated. For Cagliari, however, comes the first win of the season and the eighth-finals against Juventus.