London, January 11:

Paul Scharner scored on a header in the 78th minute for Wigan to beat Arsenal 1-0 in Tuesday’s first-leg semi-final of the English League Cup.

The Austrian scored off a cross to give Wigan an edge entering the second leg in two weeks.

The clubs failed to mount many serious threats throughout the match, which was played before a crowd of 12,181 in a half-full stadium at Wigan. It was Wigan’s first semi-final in a major cup competition.

The second half began with more energy, but a floodlight failure after about 10 minutes delayed the match. Players left the field for about 15 minutes, but when they returned the game was slow to pick up pace. The blackout reportedly was linked to a power failure in the Wigan area.

Arsenal’s best chance came in the first minutes when Freddie Ljungberg fired over the crossbar on a close-in shot. Wigan lost two keys players in the first 35 minutes to injury — David Connolly and Lee McCulloch.

Arsenal started a second-choice team with few regulars in the lineup, including forward Ljungberg and striker Jose Antonio Reyes.

Italian Cup

TURIN: Alessandro Del Piero scored three goals and became Juventus’ all-time leading scorer in a 4-1 win over Fiorentina to reach the Italian Cup quarters. Juventus advanced 6-3 on aggregate. Del Piero entered the game sharing the record of 182 goals in all competitions with Giampiero Boniperti, who played for Juventus from 1946 to 1961.

The record goal came on a typical Del Piero play in the ninth minute. The Juventus captain received the ball in the centre of the area with his back to the goal, pivoted and shot past three defenders and goalkeeper Sebastien Frey.

As usual, he raised both arms briefly and nodded to the usual small crowd at Stadio Delle Alpi. The fans returned the gesture by unfurling a congratulatory banner — “182+1, you have entered into legend. Thank you captain.”

In the 17th, Del Piero curved in a free kick through a hole in a Fiorentina wall. Adrian Mutu connected on a rebound of a Del Piero shot to make it 3-0 in the 21st. Del Piero completed his night with another of his skills, converting a penalty in the 57th for his 185th goal with Juve. Fiorentina’s lone score came in the 64th from Bulgaria striker Valeri Bojinov.

Earlier, Palermo advanced with a 5-4 win over second-division Bari in Sicily.