Coppa Italia: Udinese Knocks Out Venezia; Next Up, a Match Against Atalanta

Udinese secured a spot in the round of 16 of the 2026-2027 Coppa Italia with a 2-1 comeback victory over Venezia. A strong start wasn’t enough for Venezia, despite taking the lead in the 9th minute on a goal by Sagrado, who was quick to pounce on the rebound after Mrozek parried Lauerbach’s initial shot: Udinese, in fact, grew stronger as the match went on and equalized in the 34th minute off a corner kick, with Bayo rising highest to head the ball home and level the score.

The lead came in the second half, as the Friuli Bianconeri struck on a counterattack in the 53rd minute: Davis led the offensive transition and once again set up Bayo, who scored his second goal of the match to make it 2-1. Venezia tried to respond, coming close to equalizing through Rrahmani in the 67th minute, but the Bianconeri held on until the final whistle to seal the victory, joining Atalanta (one of the tournament’s top eight seeds) in the round of 16.

And so concludes Wednesday’s round of the national cup: prior to the Friulians’ victory over Venezia came Sassuolo’s win over Frosinone, with the Neroverdi winning 4-3 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw in regulation time—a result that followed goals by Benjamin Rodriguez in the 36th minute for Sassuolo and Aleksa Terzic in the 47th minute of the first half for Frosinone. Sassuolo will face Juventus in the round of 16.

In the first two round-of-32 matches, played on Tuesday, Cremonese and Monza advanced: the Grigiorossi pulled off a surprise 2-0 victory over Parma (though they went on to fire Giampaolo practically immediately after the match), while the Brianza-based side defeated Torino 1-0. In the round of 16, Cremonese will face Como, while Monza will take on Milan.

Still to be played on Thursday, September 3, are Palermo vs. Mantova at 6 p.m. and Cagliari vs. Hellas Verona at 9 p.m.; two weeks later, on September 15, Genoa vs. Südtirol at 6 p.m. and Fiorentina vs. Pisa at 9 p.m. The winners will face Bologna, Roma, Inter, and Napoli, respectively, in the round of 16. The round of 16 matches will be played in December, between the 2nd and the 16th.