When [Juventus Women](https://www.blackwhitereadallover.com) manager Max Canzi talked at [his pre-match press conference](https://www.juventus.com/en/news/articles/canzi-rosucci-mindset-the-key-to-final-success) about how great of a Coppa Italia Femminile final he was expecting on Sunday, it’s hard to believe even he thought his team were set to have the first half like they did against Roma.
It wasn’t just an impressive opening 45 minutes in Como.
It was an absolute rout by the Bianconere against their biggest rival the last handful of years.
Juventus Women didn’t just take the lead against Roma in the first half, they absolutely smoked the two-time defending Serie A champions. Behind two Cristiana Girelli goals and strikes from Sofia Cantore and Lindsey Thomas, Juve exploded for four first-half goals on their way to a 4-0 victory in front of over 7,000 fans at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia to complete the domestic double after lifting their first Scudetto in three years last weekend. It capped a 2024-25 campaign in which Roma entered as the favorite to. win their third straight title but Juve proved to be the class of the league once again — and they did it in style, too.
Just how clinical Juventus Women proved to be in the first half: Canzi’s squad attempted five shots during the opening 45 minutes of play. Four of them proved to be goals.
The ball started rolling just over 10 minutes in when Juve were awarded a free kick outside of the penalty area following a Roma player handling the ball when she thought a foul had been called. Instead, Juve worked a set piece routine, with Lisa Boattin sending in a ball for Girelli, who had gotten in behind the Roma line of defenders. As she tried to poke the ball around Roma keeper Camelia Ceasar, the Romanian brought down Juve’s No. 10 for a penalty.
Girelli stepped up to the spot and slotted her shot past Cesar for her 20th goal of the season in all competitions. Nineteen of those came in Serie A as she finished atop the league’s scoring chart.
Little did we know, the floodgates were about to open.
Eight minutes later, Cantore — who has had her best season as a professional during the 2024-25 campaign — jumped on a loose ball after some poor passing at the back for Roma. The 25-year-old Italian striker steamed into the final third 1-on-1 with Ceasar, beating the onrushing keeper to double Juventus’ lead.
Thomas made it 3-0 on the half-hour mark when her shot got a deflection off a Roma defender and looped over Ceasar at the near post. Girelli capped the big first half four minutes later on a looping header sent into the side netting at the back post following a fantastic cross-field ball from Boattin.
It was a fitting kind of end to a season in which Juventus Women have quickly rebounded following last year’s campaign full of struggles domestically. Juve finished 11 points off the lead behind league winners Roma. And while they beat Roma 1-0 in last season’s Coppa Italia Femminile final, the summer saw plenty of changes — as well as a new manager — arrive to try and prevent a repeat of what happened the season before.
Canzi, who arrived in Turin from Serie C side Pontedera and barely had an experience managing in women’s football, got his team rolling domestically after a tough preseason and adjustment period to his new tactics, namely a 3-4-3 formation after Juve had mainly played four at the back for years. Once things clicked domestically, it was hard to dent a Juve side that set the early pace in Serie A and didn’t suffer their first league loss until the middle of January.
It proved to be the season in which Juve reestablished themselves as the team to beat in Italian women’s football, and this was the final chapter that was added Saturday by the water in Como. It sure did have a nice ring to it with Juventus Women adding another trophy to their haul.