24′ SAVE! A flowing Juve move comes to a disappointing end as a pass intended for Kulusevski rolls through for Berisha. However, from the next move, the same player is able to turn his man and get a shot away that the SPAL stopper keeps out at the second attempt.
22′ Juventus striker Morata has had 20 touches of the ball so far and found the target twice from his two attempts, one of those beating Berisha from the penalty spot.
20′ SPAL have responded well to the setback. The visitors are enjoying a prolonged spell on the ball, but they need to start thinking about testing Buffon if they are to find an equaliser.
18′ Seck powers his way past a couple of opposition players but his shot from a long way out is very weak. It trickles through for Buffon to gather.
16′ GOOOAAALLL!!! JUVENTUS 1-0 SPAL!! Morata sends Berisha the wrong way and Juve have the lead. In real time it looked as though Rabiot attempted to con the officials for that penalty decision, but Vicari definitely made contact.
15′ PENALTY TO JUVENTUS! Rabiot did not dive after all! A look at the Vicari challenge from another angle shows that he did indeed make contact with the Juve midfielder, so the yellow card is rescinded and a penalty is awarded.
14′ VAR CHECK! Rabiot is shown a yellow card for simulation after throwing himself to the ground under minimal contact from Vicari. However, the referee has been asked to check the incident back on the pitchside monitor for a possible penalty…
13′ Thirteen minutes played at the Allianz Stadium and Juventus have had 61 per cent of the ball so far – no real surprises there. The hosts have managed just one serious attempt, though, with Morata denied by Berisha from range.
11′ Floccari is proving a handful in the SPAL attack. He drives forward and gets a shot away that rises high over Buffon’s goal.
10′ SAVE! Morata’s shot-to-nothing is pushed aside by Berisha. That could be the first of many saves the visiting goalkeeper has to make today.
8′ SPAL work the ball across to the right and it is nicely played through for Floccari. Before the striker can think about getting a shot away, though, Demiral gets across and intercepts.
7′ SHOT! Ramsey thinks about taking on the volley but decides not to and instead slips in Morata. The cross is initially cut out but it eventually falls to Frabotta to flash a shot across the face of goal.
5′ Morata peels off to the left but a searching ball over the top for the ex-Chelsea striker is not brought under control. SPAL are trying their best to keep things tight early on.
3′ Juve have taken control of possession right from the off. They are not really getting it into advanced positions thus far, with their back four and midfielders taking it in turns to knock it around.
1′ KICK-OFF! SPAL get us up and running in Turin! The second-tier side are looking to pull off a shock victory here against Andrea Pirlo’s heavyweights.
Both sets of players are now out on the pitch at the Allianz Stadium and kick-off is just a few moments away.
Following the 3-2 last-16 win against Genoa, Juventus are now unbeaten in 12 home games in the Coppa Italia (11 wins and one draw) – their longest streak in the competition since 1996 (16 games), under with Marcello Lippi.
SPAL were held to a 1-1 draw by Cremonese in their most recent outing on Sunday and show five changes from that match. Okoli, Dickmann, Seck, Sernicola and Brignola are all recalled. Paloschi was on the scoresheet three days ago but is among those to drop down to the bench, along with Tomovic, Strefezza, Sala and Valoti.
Juventus show nine changes from their weekend win over Bologna, with Cristiano Ronaldo left out of the matchday squad entirely. Bernardeschi and Kulusevski are the only two players to keep their place in the starting line-up, though this is still a strong Juve XI that includes the likes of De Ligt, Ramsey, Morata and veteran stopper Buffon in goal.
Subs: Luca Moro, Nenad Tomovic, Gabriel Strefezza, Mattia Valoti, Demba Thiam, Stefano Minelli, Marco Sala, Alberto Paloschi, Riccardo Spaltro, Federico Viviani.
SPAL XI (3-5-2): Etrit Berisha; Caleb Okoli, Francesco Vicari, Luca Ranieri; Lorenzo Dickmann, Simone Missiroli, Salvatore Esposito, Demba Seck, Leonardo Sernicola; Enrico Brignola, Sergio Floccari.
Subs: Cosimo Marco Da Graca, Wojciech Szczesny, Alex Sandro, Giorgio Chiellini, Weston McKennie, Danilo, Arthur, Juan Cuadrado, Federico Chiesa, Leonardo Bonucci, Alessandro Di Pardo, Carlo Pinsoglio.
JUVENTUS XI (4-4-2): Gianluigi Buffon (c); Radu Dragusin, Merih Demiral, Matthijs de Ligt, Gianluca Frabotta; Federico Bernardeschi, Nicolo Fagioli, Adrien Rabiot, Aaron Ramsey; Alvaro Morata, Dejan Kulusevski.
SPAL were relegated from the top flight of Italian football last season but are on course for a swift return as they sit fifth in Serie B, just five points off top spot. The visitors have already progressed through four rounds to make it this far, most recently seeing off top-tier Sassuolo 2-0 a fortnight ago.
Juventus have won this competition a record 13 times, though not since 2018, while SPAL’s best finish came in 1962 when losing to Napoli in the final. The hosts required extra time to overcome Genoa in the last round and have won six of their last seven games in all competitions.
Hello and welcome to our live text coverage of the Coppa Italia quarter-final clash between Serie A giants Juventus and second-tier side SPAL at the Allianz Stadium. The winners of this tie will go on to face Inter, who beat Milan 2-1 in a dramatic match on Tuesday, for a place in the final.
