Juventus edge past Milan at halfway stage of Cup semi

Juventus took a significant step in their bid for the Italian Cup when they beat AC Milan 2-1 in their semifinal first leg at the San Siro stadium on Wednesday.

Both sides seemed subdued in the first half, perhaps mindful of the death of Brescia defender Vittorio Mero who was killed in a car accident on Wednesday afternoon.

Brescia's Italian Cup game against Parma was called off and a minute's silence was held before the start of the match at the San Siro.

But the game sparked to life just before halftime when Spanish forward Javi Moreno fired into the far corner from the edge of the penalty box after a long flick-on from Jose Mari.

Juventus were level within three minutes of the re-start when Alessandro Birindelli's freekick took a wicked deflection off the Milan defensive wall.

The visitors brought on Pavel Nedved and Alessandro Del Piero to add some guile to an otherwise scrappy game and coach Marcello Lippi's tactics reaped dividends four minutes before the end.

Cristian Zenoni sped past Thomas Helveg down the Juventus right and lashed in a swift cross which Del Piero met at the far post to volley into the roof of the net.

There was more good news for Juve with Uruguay defender Paolo Montero making his expected comeback from a knee injury which has kept him out for the last month.

The second leg is on February 6 with the winners facing either Brescia or Parma.