Dino Zoff’s debut on the Fiorentina bench was a 1-0 quarter-final defeat at Roma, but the performance was reassuring for the new Coach.

Ex-Lazio boss Zoff returned to his old hunting ground of the Stadio Olimpico. These two teams had met just three days ago in Serie A, with Roma winning 2-1 in Florence. The tie was originally set to be played behind closed doors due to crowd trouble, but the Capital club won its appeal to bring in the fans.

Zoff’s first change was to adopt a more solid 4-4-2 system, but the Viola were too intent on defending in the first half and invited the home side to come forward.

Cristiano Lupatelli rushed off his line to block Daniele Corvia’s run and replays show he handled outside the area, but the referee waved play on.

The Fiorentina goalkeeper was again forced to rush off his line to close down Corvia and Vincenzo Montella, but the deadlock was eventually broken just before half-time. Gaetano D’Agostino floated in a free kick for the unmarked Daniele De Rossi’s header.

Both sides lost players to injury, as Olivier Dacourt and Daniele Delli Carri limped off during the first half, while the home fans felt they deserved a penalty for Christian Maggio’s handling offence.

Fiorentina introduced Martin Jorgensen for Enrico Fantini and were immediately more dangerous going forward.

Fabrizio Miccoli dispossessed Matteo Ferrari and his fierce half-volley brought a tough save out of Carlo Zotti. From the resulting corner kick, the young goalkeeper again relied on his instincts to palm away William Viali’s free header.

Roma hit back with a cheeky D’Agostino free kick at the near post, but Lupatelli was able to readjust his position in time to block it on the line.

However, Fiorentina were clearly the better side in the second half and Zotti flew to push a curling Miccoli set-piece out of the far corner.

Roma win this first leg, but with such a slender scoreline the quarter-final remains very much in the balance ahead of the deciding match on March 16.

Scorers: De Rossi 40 (R)