Milan continue treble challenge

Milan continue their quest for a treble today when they take a 3-2 lead into the second leg of their Italian Cup quarter-final against Udinese.

Top of Serie A and through to the last eight of the Champions League, Carlo Ancelotti's side have been in ruthless form, winning nine successive matches including home and away defeats of Manchester United.

Udinese, however, produced the most impressive performance in Italy last weekend, thrashing Palermo 5-1 away from home to boost their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

Milan are expected to start with fit-again striker Filippo Inzaghi partnering Jon Dahl Tomasson in attack, with the Italy international hoping to put a frustrating season behind him.

Today's other quarter-final tie pits two of Italy's 1982 World Cup winning team against each other as Dino Zoff's Fiorentina attempt to overturn a 1-0 deficit against Roma, who named Bruno Conti as their new coach earlier this week.

Conti replaced Luigi Del Neri, who quit following Roma's 3-0 defeat by Cagliari at the weekend - a result that left the club on 38 points from 28 matches, nine shy of Serie A's fourth Champions League berth currently held by Sampdoria.

As the fourth man to hold the post this season following Del Neri, Rudi Voeller and Cesare Prandelli, Conti inherits a divided dressing room and an injury list that includes midfielder Olivier Dacourt, defender Christian Panucci and goalkeeper Ivan Pelizzoli.

"Bruno's a friend and I wish him all the best in his new job - but only from Thursday onwards," Zoff was quoted as saying in La Gazzetta dello Sport yesterday.

In the bottom half of the draw, Cagliari travel to Genoa to play Sampdoria tomorrow with a 2-0 lead, but without Gianfranco Zola, who suffered a muscle strain at the weekend.

Sampdoria coach Walter Novellino, meanwhile, is expected to rest striker Francesco Flachi to make way for January signing Simone Inzaghi to start alongside Valeri Kutusov.

The reward for the winner will be a semi-final against Inter, who completed a 4-0 aggregate win over Atalanta last month.

Coppa Italia QFs (2nd legs)

Today
Fiorentina vs Roma (0-1)
Udinese vs Milan (2-3)

Tomorrow
Sampdoria vs Cagliari (0-2)