Fiorentina beat Cremonese to close in on Italian Cup final

Fiorentina closed in on the Italian Cup final with Wednesday's 2-0 win at Cremonese which gave them a handy first-leg lead in the semifinal tie.

Arthur Cabral's header in the 20th minute and a Nicolas Gonzalez penalty with a quarter of an hour remaining made Fiorentina heavy favourites to reach May's final in Rome.

Cremonese knocked Napoli and Roma out of the competition to get to the semifinals but now look sure to exit.

The hosts had to play the final minutes with 10 men after Emanuel Aiwu was sent off for handling a shot from Cabral and giving away the penalty from which Gonzalez ensured a ninth straight win in all competitions for Fiorentina.

Vincenzo Italiano's in-form side will face either Inter Milan or Juventus in the final if they finish the job in Florence later this month. Fiorentina have not won a major trophy since the 2001 Italian Cup.

Inter held Juve to a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their semifinal clash on Tuesday thanks to Romelu Lukaku's stoppage-time penalty in Turin.