Coppa Italia: Atalanta reach first competition final since 1996 with victory over six-time winners Fiorentina

Atalanta: Atalanta reached their first Coppa Italia final since 1996 as Josip Ilicic and Alejandro Gomez scored in a 2-1 victory over six-time winners Fiorentina on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_6030531” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Atalanta players celebrate after the win. Reuters[/caption] Their three away goals in the first leg which finished 3-3 in Florence, as well as the two efforts at home, were enough to qualify for the 15 May final where they will face Lazio. They defeated champions for the past four years Juventus 3-0 in the previous round. “It’s an enormous feeling. It was our idea, our objective, and when we eliminated Juve, the trophy was all we were thinking of. We want to bring all of Bergamo to Rome,” captain Gomez told television channel Rai Sport. The visitors were quickest out of the blocks, however, at a sold-out Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia in Bergamo as Colombian forward Luis Muriel found the net after three minutes. Atalanta responded 10 minutes later as skipper Gomez was tripped inside the box by centre-back Federico Ceccherini. Ilicic stepped up from the spot and drove his penalty home to the right of keeper Alban Lafont. The Slovenian had a chance to double his tally and extend his side’s advantage in the tie three minutes before the break. Atalanta counter-attacked, the club top-scorer Duvan Zapata found Ilicic just inside the box but the winger’s effort flew over the crossbar. Gomez found himself in a threatening position with little more than 20 minutes to play with a chance to seal their place in the final. The Argentinian shot hard and low from the edge of box across the face of goal and Lafont’s attempted save deflected the ball into the bottom corner in greasy conditions. The home side closed out the tie continuing with their attacking intent which has seen them score 66 goals in Serie A but Ilicic left the field with a knee injury with five minutes to play.