Everything was against Inter Milan in tonight’s Coppa Italia semi-final second leg against big rivals AC Milan. Nerazzuri have not won this season against Milan (one defeat, two draws), they are also inferior to their rival in Coppa Italia matches (10 wins for Milan, 8 defeats and 8 draws) and finally, they could have become victims of the old rule of ‘away goal’ which still stand in cup matches. The first game ended 0-0 which meant that even a draw with scored goals could bring Milan into the finals. But, the Lady Luck turned its back to Milan in tonight’s match, and they lost their chance to go through the finals: Inter – Milan 0-3. Impeccabili come sempre. #CurvaNord #InterMilan pic.twitter.com/8JkD0uPSM4— Alessandro Nuzzo (@_alenuzzo) April 19, 2022 It was a Derbi Della Madonnina which nobody wanted, at least not now, when both teams are also leading candidates for the Serie A title, and you don’t play a city derby against a heated rival without your strongest squad. And both teams are facing tough games over the weekend, against Roma and Lazio. Every point counts, so nobody needed this strong game in midweek, but it had to be played and Inter came on top and will play in the finals against the winner of the Juventus – Fiorentina match. 5 – Lautaro Martínez has been involved in each of the last three goals scored during the first five minutes of play in the Milan derbies (two goals and one assist). Flash.#CoppaItalia #InterMilan pic.twitter.com/s2Nm65ycp5— OptaPaolo 🏆 (@OptaPaolo) April 19, 2022 An exciting first half saw Milan attempting to score and Inter scoring. The home team used it’s first chance of the match in the 4th minute, when Tomori failed to properly close Lautaro Martinez, who used a good Darmian’s cross and smashed the ball near Maignan, who didn’t even move. For the next 25 minutes, it was all Inter, but Nerazzurri didn’t make any shots on target and only pressured Milan’s defense a bit. And then Rossonerri woken up and stormed on Inter’s goal, but keeper Samir Handanovic and Ivan Perišić prevented three great chances for equalizer. Leao looked very lively up front and he created a first good chance for the guests, forcing Inter keeper to make an excellent reflex save at his near post. Just two minutes later, Saelemaekers took a volley just outside the box, and again Handanovic, who didn’t see the ball well, reacted like a panther and saved almost a certain goal. Then it was time for Ivan Perišić do show his defensive skills and prevent Kessie from scoring on the goal line. The punishment came just seconds later. Correa sliped a ball through to Martinez and he coolly finished over Maignan and into the net for 2-0. Diaz and Messias came on for Tonali and Saelemaekers at the beginning of the second half but they didn’t do much to ease the score. In fact, the second half was not as near as exciting as the first 45 minutes. The real threat came in the 66th minute when Bennacer scored, but VAR intervened and disallowed it due to offside. And then Inter finished the game off with a third goal from former Atalanta wing back Gosens In the end, it was again Milan’s ineffectiveness in front of the goal which ultimately led to this defeat. In the last 8 games in all competition, Rossonerri scored only 6 goals (2 against Genoa), and that is just not good enough for the Coppa Italia finals, and maybe won’t be enough for the title either. Coppa Italia, semifinalTuesday:Inter – AC Milan 3-0 (2-0) /first leg 0-0//Lautaro 4,40, Gosens 82/Wednesday:22:00 Juventus – Fiorentina /first leg 1-0/
