Virtus and La Fiorita lay down a marker in the Coppa Titano as well

As in the league, so in the cup. Virtus and La Fiorita again confirmed themselves as the benchmark of San Marino football, winning the first legs of the Coppa Titano BKN301 semi-finals against Tre Fiori and Tre Penne respectively. It was an authoritative display from the Montegiardino side against one of the most in-form teams of recent weeks. Vivan returned between the yellow-and-blue posts but had a virtually idle first half. Quite a different story for his opposite number Migani, forced to pick the ball out of his net after just 90 seconds. That is all La Fiorita needed to break the deadlock: Grandoni threading a pass through for Jacopo Semprini, who picked out the central run of Amati for a first-time strike on the bounce. The second arrived on 18 minutes, the result of ultra-aggressive pressing which allowed Zafferani to whip in a cross to the near post, where Olcese and Guidi both attacked the ball, with the latter applying the finish. Before the interval Badalassi came within a whisker of halving Tre Penne’s deficit, but after rounding Vivan decisively his angled drive was just wide. Manfredini’s team fully justified their win after the restart, going close to a third on a couple of occasions before finally finding it thanks to Guidi’s solo surge forward. Earlier, a goal from Badalassi had been ruled out for a disputed handball. Tre Penne did eventually get on the scoresheet through Pieri, who started on the bench: the light-blue-and-white striker did well to capitalise on a loose ball in the box with a fine right-footed effort into the corner. The final word, however, again went to La Fiorita, who will head into the second leg with a three-goal cushion (4-1) thanks to a precise close-range touch from Rinaldi – picked out by Zampano – to make it 4-1 at full time. Everything happened after the break in the other tie between Virtus and Tre Fiori. In the first half, Tre Fiori came flying out of the blocks, though their only real threat arrived on 3 minutes with a left-foot rocket from Islamaj, beaten away to the side by Passaniti. The Neroverdi, by contrast, struck with the first real chance they created in the second half. Tortori emerged with the ball at his feet from a double challenge in his own defensive third and set Benincasa on his way. The forward did well to wait for the run of Pecci, who drove through the middle and coolly beat Nardi. The yellow-and-blue goalkeeper then produced a stunning save to deny Benincasa, who on 62 minutes was already celebrating what looked like a certain second from close range. That intervention would prove even more crucial given that four minutes later Tre Fiori found the temporary equaliser for 1-1 via the Rizzo–Cirrottola combination, the latter ghosting in behind the defenders and taking advantage of Passaniti’s lack of grip as he slipped while trying to set himself. The incident that once again tipped the balance came on 84 minutes, when a pinball situation in the box sent the ball towards Tortori – on the ground after a sliding challenge from Censoni. The referee deemed it sufficient for a penalty, which Vallocchia converted with a left-foot strike into the top corner. There was nothing Nardi could do, and he was less than flawless on 89 minutes when Virtus scored for the third time. Benincasa back-heeled the ball into the path of Vallocchia who, with two touches, teed up Lombardi – and his right-footed strike from the edge of the area set the first-leg semi-final score at 3-1 in favour of the defending champions. Here is the line-up of the Coppa Titano BKN301 2023-24 semi-finals, all broadcast live and free via streaming on Titani.tv (Italian commentary):

---