Purple hearts are broken as Juventus advance to the Coppa Italia final

Fiorentina 0-3 Juventus (2-4 aggregate score)

After a superb performance and 2-1 advantage at the Juventus stadium in the first leg of this semi-final, hope and expectations were high that Fiorentina could see the second leg out to gain overall victory in the tie this evening. Confidence was high as Juventus were without regular first teamers such as Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba and Carlos Tevez.

In the first half, Fiorentina had the ball in the net twice, only to see both attempts disallowed. Mohammed Salah, who started the match so brightly, had his goal ruled out for a foul on Leonardo Bonucci on just 4 minutes and Gonzalo Rodriguez' headed effort was also denied by the offside flag on the half hour. Fiorentina had looked the better team in the opening minutes, but Juventus took the lead on 20 minutes and never looked back. Borja Valero had been too easily dispossessed in midfield by Claudio Marchisio who took the opportunity to break down the right and find Alessandro Matri. The former Fiorentina man fed Alvaro Morata, who saw his shot blocked by Norberto Neto. Matri snatched up the rebound and side footed home from close range.

With half time approaching and Fiorentina unable to get a hold of the game especially in midfield, it seemed like a half time team talk from Vincenzo Montella could do them the world of good but any such hopes were dashed by Roberto Peyreyra. Just a minute before the break he pounced on Alvaro Morata's shot that had been parried by Neto. Fiorentina showed uncharacteristic defensive lapses for the goal, Stefan Savic weak in his challenge on Morata and Marcos Alonso switched off and totally lost Peyreyra. The home side looked bewildered and unsure of themselves as the first half had clearly not gone to plan, a back three looking stretched in a similar way to the first half of the Tottenham game at White Hart Lane.

After the break, Fiorentina tried to hit back early. Mario Gomez hit the side netting after some determined work in the box from Mati Fernandez and minutes later Salah dispossessed Arturo Vidal and shot over, but they still did not create a legitimate goal threat.  On 58 minutes the tie was all but over. Bonucci, comepletely unmarked, volleyed in from ten yards following a corner to make the tie 0-3 on the night and 2-4 on aggregate. La viola knew that they were well beaten and it showed in the play from then on. Alessandro Diamanti displayed desire when he was brought on to replace an unusually quiet Joaquin but there was no end result to his commitment. A well organised Juve defence had lacklustre Fiorentina's measure. The game ended with Morata being bizarrely sent off by the referee for an innocuous kick but this was of little consequence for the home team.

It goes without saying that this was a bitterly disappointing performance and result after the euphoria of the first leg win in Turin. With an important Europa League quarter final coming up against Dynamo Kyiv, Montella will have to lift his men to avoid finishing the season without anything to show for all their hard work. His squad have already come back fighting after a heavy defeat to Lazio this season, and they need to be able to do it again starting on Sunday away to Napoli.