Coppa Titano BKN301: no comebacks in the second legs of the quarter-finals

There seems to be no stopping Virtus, who last night racked up yet another win this season. In the second leg of the Coppa Titano BKN301 quarter-finals against Domagnano, Bizzotto’s side – the holders of the trophy – scored once in each half to book their place in the semi-finals. Domagnano were starting from the 2-1 lead earned by the Neroverdi in the first leg, but after half an hour the plans of the Acquaviva side appeared to be unravelling. On 34 minutes, Michele Rinaldi was sent off, leaving his team down to ten men. Virtus, however, did not panic and instead produced the perfect reaction. Right at the end of the first half, Tortori burst forward into the box, Baffoni went into a challenge with the Neroverde forward, who then went down after contact. Zani pointed to the spot and Tortori himself stepped up and beat Lorenzo Batori to make it 1-0. Despite the numerical advantage, Domagnano were unable to trouble Passaniti and his team-mates, who killed the tie off in the 81st minute. The second goal was scored by Simone Benincasa, who won the ball and drove towards goal before unleashing a precise left-footed strike from the edge of the area that beat Batori for 2-0. Shortly afterwards Domagnano tried again with a good header from Donati, but the effort failed to trouble the Neroverdi backline. Time ran out and Virtus could celebrate the win (their fourteenth in a row across league, cup and Super Cup) and a place in the semi-finals. In the top half of the draw, holders Virtus will face Tre Fiori. De Falco’s side were held to a 0-0 draw by Folgore in Acquaviva, but that was enough for the Gialloblu, who could rely on the first-leg win signed by Eric Fedeli. It was nonetheless an entertaining contest with chances at both ends. Early on it was Cateni who went close to giving the Falciano side the lead, before Venturini did superbly to deny Fedeli at the other end. On the half-hour mark, Iuliani tried a piece of brilliance from distance, but his strike did not come off for Lasagni and his team-mates. At the start of the second half it was once again Venturini keeping his side in it, this time with a fine save from Ciccione’s effort. The minutes ticked by and the goal never came. In stoppage time Folgore also appealed for a penalty for an alleged handball by Tomassoni, but the referee waved play on. Falciano’s men pushed right to the end, but Nardi and his team closed the door until the final whistle, sending De Falco’s side through to the next round. Goals galore in the bottom half of the draw, where Tre Penne and La Fiorita will meet in the other semi-final. In Montecchio, the funivia derby resumed from the 3-1 advantage held by the club from Città, and in last night’s second leg the Biancoazzurri struck five more times to once again get the better of their Granata rivals. Ceci’s team effectively settled the tie inside the first quarter of an hour. Not even three minutes had passed when Pieri finished from close range after a precise cross from the right by Nigretti. The second came in the sixth minute, scored by Marcello Scarponi, who turned in after Battistini had parried a driven cross-shot from Ceccaroli. On 15 minutes it was Scarponi again on the referee’s scoresheet under the heading “goalscorers”: a long, accurate ball from Nigretti picked out the Biancoazzurro winger perfectly and, once inside the area, he once more beat Battistini with the outside of his right boot. Libertas tried to react and, shortly before the half-hour, managed to pull one back from the penalty spot through Sapori. In the second half, though, Ceci’s men picked up the tempo again and added two more. The fourth arrived shortly after the hour mark, with a superb pass from Gai into the area for Ceccaroli, who finished clinically past Battistini. It went from bad to worse for Libertas, already weakened by several absences. Sperindio even tried pushing Elia Benedettini up front, but the National Team goalkeeper could do nothing against the well-organised defence marshalled by Migani. In the closing stages (88') came the fifth goal, scored by substitute Malvin Zeka, who beat Battistini with a precise left-footed finish after being released on the counter by Luca Cecchetti. La Fiorita were just as prolific, hitting four more goals to knock out Fiorentino. At the Federico Crescentini Stadium, Manfredini’s side kicked off with a narrow (2-1) advantage and broke the deadlock shortly after the half-hour mark through Mazzotti. The Gialloblu centre-back stretched superbly to meet Amati’s free-kick and make it 1-0. A lightning-quick second, almost a carbon copy, followed for La Fiorita in the 35th minute, when Fatica headed in another Amati free-kick – a new assist from the set-piece specialist for his centre-back. The Gialloblu’s third came at the start of the second half, again from a dead ball. The Montegiardino club once more made the most of the free-kicks of a hugely inspired Armando Amati, who seems to have a score to settle with Fiorentino. The Gialloblu midfielder has now totalled three goals and three assists in this season’s meetings with the Rossoblu. On 52 minutes he delivered yet another inch-perfect free-kick onto the head of Mazzotti, who was also enjoying a stellar evening. Emiliano Olcese could not be missing from the Gialloblu scoresheet: on 65 minutes he converted another penalty, repeating his first-leg spot-kick to make it four. After Semprini hit the crossbar and missed the chance to make it 5-0, Fiorentino grabbed a consolation goal to soften the scoreline: Niang, picked out brilliantly by Gueye, beat Neri one-on-one in the 82nd minute. It was a goal that did no damage to La Fiorita, who claimed their ticket to the semi-finals, where they will face Tre Penne. Here is the full picture from the second legs of the Coppa Titano BKN301 2023-24 quarter-finals:

---