Fiorentina beats Cremonese in 1st leg of Italian Cup semi

CREMONA, Italy — Cremonese’s surprising Italian Cup run looks set to end as it lost 2-0 at home to Fiorentina in the first leg of their semifinal on Wednesday.

Arthur Cabral headed Fiorentina into the lead in the first half and Nicolás González converted a penalty after the break following an incident which also saw Cremonese defender Emanuel Aiwu sent off for handball.

The return leg is on April 27 and the winner will face either Juventus or Inter Milan. They played out a 1-1 draw that ended with a mass scuffle and three red cards on Tuesday.

While Cremonese has won only one of 28 league matches this season and is bottom of the standings, the team based in Lombardy eliminated Serie A leader Napoli and Roma in succession to reach the last four of the cup competition.

And it almost took an early lead as Fiorentina goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano had to fingertip Frank Tsadjout’s effort around the post in the eighth minute.

But it was Fiorentina which took the lead in the 20th minute when Cristiano Biraghi whipped in a cross from the left and Cabral headed it home.

Both sides had chances before Fiorentina managed to extend its lead 15 minutes from time.

Cremonese goalkeeper Mouhamadou Sarr made a double save but the ball came back to Cabral. His follow-up was blocked by Aiwu on the goal line but there was a check by the video assistant referee and replays showed the ball had hit the defender on the arm.

Aiwu was shown a straight red card and González tucked the resulting penalty into the bottom right corner.