Roma furthered their ambitions of claiming a record-breaking 10th Coppa Italia crown as they beat Empoli 2-1 in extra time at the Stadio Olimpico this evening.
La Maggica originally went ahead through Juan Iturbe in the first half but had to settle for extra time thanks to a late equaliser from Simone Verdi, before Daniele De Rossi converted an extra-time penalty to seal the win.
Victory for Rudi Garcia's side now means that they can continue to pursue another TIM Cup, with a victory in the tournament potentially moving them past Juventus to become the Italian side with the most Coppa crowns.
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Roma went ahead after only five minutes when Iturbe was left with space inside the box, and he made no mistake with a cultured finish into the bottom-left corner.
Diego Laxalt looked to hit back for the visitors when he produced some good build-up play to find Riccardo Saponara, who could only guide his shot past the top corner of goal.
Empoli continued to try to work Lukasz Skorupski, this time as Francesco Tavano took aim from distance, only to see his drilled effort flash past the wrong side of the post.
The Rome club started the second half in a more dominant fashion and they should have perhaps been two ahead when Miralem Pjanic fired wide after he was found by Iturbe.
The away side gave up a perfect chance to secure a route back into the contest thanks to Matteo Bianchetti, as he could only find the safe hands of Skorupski following neat work from Franco Signorelli.
Empoli's equaliser came just 10 minutes from time through Verdi, when he caught hold of Matias Vecino's through-ball to slot home and take things into extra time.
Despite the weary legs on show in the closing stages, Roma did their best to prevent penalties through both Adem Ljajic and Davide Astori who were both wasteful in front of goal.
The hosts finally got the opportunity to put the game to bed and seal passage into the next round in the second half of the added period, as Piotr Zielinski brought down Leandro Paredes inside the Empoli box much to the dismay of his teammates.
With the penalty potentially deciding the outcome of the tie, Roma put their faith in club legend De Rossi and he made sure of victory with a drilled spot kick into the bottom left corner.
Christopher Dodd
