TURIN: Juventus booked a spot in their fifth consecutive Coppa Italia semi-finals after an Arkadiusz Milik hat-trick helped them earn a 4-0 win over promoted Serie A side Frosinone on Thursday.

Juventus, who are the team that has reached the last four the most times in competition’s history — 36 in its 77 editions, will face Lazio in a two-legged last-four clash in April thanks to Poland striker Milik’s treble, which took his goal tally to five for the season in all competitions.

Juve blew away Frosinone, who knocked out Napoli in the last 16, at the Allianz Stadium in Turin to extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to 16 matches.

“I thank the boys, who played a good match and entertained the crowd,” coach Massimiliano Allegri told Mediaset.

“The important thing is to understand that you have to stay in the game, play hard and defend well. Today it’s a good thing we didn’t concede goals, we had conceded too many lately. We must rejoice at the victory, but from Saturday we must think about Sassuolo, who beat us in the first leg [in Serie A].”

Milik opened the scoring from the spot in the 11th minute, sending Frosinone keeper Michele Cerofolini the wrong way after a penalty was awarded for a foul on midfielder Fabio Miretti.

Milik doubled the hosts’ lead in the 38th minute with a neat finish, beautifully taking down Weston McKennie’s clipped ball over the top and rolling past Cerofolini.

The 29-year-old completed his hat-trick two minutes after the break thanks to the alertness and generosity of Manuel Locatelli.

Italy midfielder Locatelli pinched the ball off a dozing Luca Garritano on the edge of the Frosinone area and then laid on an open goal for the grateful Milik.

Milik had the ball in the net again nine minutes later after getting his toe to Miretti’s goal-bound shot, but was just offside.

However 18-year-old Kenan Yildiz capped a perfect evening for Juve just after the hour mark with a wonderful volleyed finish from McKennie’s raking cross.

Frosinone’s cup run ends with a fourth straight defeat in all competitions, the first loss in that run coming against Juve in Serie A just before Christmas.

“On paper we should be no match for Juventus, but I’d like to congratulate my players for our cup run,” said coach Eusebio Di Francesco. “What they need to understand is the jump in quality that there is when you’re up against a team like Juve.”

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2024