Coppa Italia: Fiorentina beat Cremonese to close in on Italian Cup final

Milan: Fiorentina closed in on the Italian Cup final with Wednesday’s 2-0 win at Cremonese which gave them a handy first-leg lead in the last four tie. Arthur Cabral’s header in the 20th minute and a Nicolas Gonzalez penalty with a quarter of an hour remaining made Fiorentina heavy favourites for May’s final in Rome. Cremonese knocked Napoli and Roma out of the competition to get to the semi-finals but now look sure to exit. The hosts had to play the final minutes with 10 men after Emanuel Aiwu was sent off for handling a shot from Cabral and giving away the penalty from which Gonzalez ensured a ninth straight win in all competitions for Fiorentina. Vincenzo Italiano’s in-form side will face either Inter Milan or Juventus in the final if they finish the job in Florence later this month. Fiorentina have not won a major trophy since the 2001 Italian Cup, Inter held Juve to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their semi-final clash on Tuesday thanks to Romelu Lukaku’s stoppage time penalty in Turin. Lukaku was racially abused by a section of Juve supporters while taking his spot-kick. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.