Wednesday’s game will mark the 35th meeting between Juventus and Empoli, who trail 24-5

Thiago Motta could start Dusan Vlahovic and Randal Kolo Muani together for the first time, but has a shortage at the back to contend with when Juventus host Empoli in the quarter-final of the Coppa Italia on Wednesday evening.

This is the last of the four quarter-finals for 2024-25. The winner will go on to face Bologna in the two-legged semi-final in April. Milan and Inter have also booked their spots in the semis, setting up a Derby della Madonnina by knocking out Roma and Lazio respectively.

Juventus have a reduced set of options heading into tonight’s quarter final. Nicolo Savona, Renato Veiga, Pierre Kalulu and Gleison Bremer are all ruled out, which leaves a back four of Timothy Weah, Federico Gatti, Lloyd Kelly and Andrea Cambiaso.

Douglas Luiz will be out of action until after the March international break and Teun Koopmeiners is expected to be given a rest, which will likely mean a midfield pairing of Khephren Thuram and Manuel Locatelli.

There could be a first start together for Vlahovic and Kolo Muani. The latter is expected to start out wide on the right flank, with Weston McKennie and Nico Gonzalez in line to take up the other attacking roles.

Empoli are expected to make a fair few changes following their 5-0 hammering by Atalanta in Serie A over the weekend. Ardian Ismajli could come back in at centre-back, as could 20-year-old Luca Marianucci.

Liam Henderson, Youssef Maleh, Liberato Cacace and Christian Kouame are the outfielders most likely to keep their places in the Empoli line-up.

Juventus (4-2-3-1): Perin; Weah, Gatti, Kelly, Cambiaso; Locatelli, Thuram; Kolo Muani, McKennie, N.Gonzalez; Vlahovic.

Empoli (3-5-2): Vasquez; Marianucci, Ismajli, Tosto; Sambia, Kovalenko, Henderson, Maleh, Cacace; Kouamè, Colombo.