Average in Serie A, great in other competitions, that’s how one could describe Inter’s recent form. After losing to Fiorentina and Monza and managing only a draw with Salernitana, Nerrazzuri have threatened their own Champions League ambitions after falling to 6th place. On the other hand, quite surprisingly, they defeated Benfica 5-3 on aggregate and set up a fantastic derby with AC Milan in the semi-final of the same competition. And in Coppa Italia, they finally managed to defeat Juventus for the first time in the semi-finals with a 1-0 win at San Siro and are set to defend their Cup title, won last season against the same opponent. In 2022, they were better than Juve with a 4-2 win, and this season, they will face either Fiorentina or Salernitana, who are playing in the other semi-final on Thursday. They had an easy task against Juventus, who were simply not up to the task tonight. Unlike in their unfortunate loss to Napoli in Turin on Sunday, they were not good tonight and had only five shot overall. Not enough if you want to win. Their best player Angel Di Maria was not in the mood, while injuries to Dušan Vlahović and the absence of Moise Kean meant that coach Allegri had to depend only on Chiesa and Milik and they didn’t do anything tonight.Internazionale 1×0 Juventus (ida: 1×1)⚽️ Federico Dimarco🥾 Nicolò Barella🏆 Copa da Itália | Semi pic.twitter.com/zBw1uAXxbz— Dhi Verdade (@DhiVerdadeOfc) April 26, 2023 Looking at the starting line-ups from last week, both teams had to make changes. Despite having his controversial suspension in the first leg overturned, Romelu Lukaku started the match from the bench, as Lautaro Martinez and Edin Dzeko were given a place in attack. Meanwhile, Henrikh Mkhitaryan came in for Marcelo Brozovic. With Dusan Vlahovic missing with an ankle injury, Federico Chiesa was playing as the false striker in the Juventus attack, supported by Angel Di Maria. In defence, Leonardo Bonucci returned to the starting line-up. The guests started well but without a proper chance. But the hosts took their first one and turned it into a goal. After a lovely pass from Barella, Federico Dimarco slotted for the lead in the 15th minute. Juve pushed harder, but again failed to make a proper chance. Kostić took a shot in the 35th minute, but Onana was ready for it.5 – Federico #Dimarco has scored 5 goals for Inter in all competitions 2022-23, only fewer than Hakimi (7 goals in 2020/21) amongst the defenders of the club in the last 10 seasons; in addition, 4 of these goals arrived thanks to an assist by Barella. Tuning.#InterJuventus pic.twitter.com/xI5m1504Yk— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) April 26, 2023 Juventus was even better in the second half in terms of possession, but again, nothing came out of it, and it was Inter with a great chance after Dumfries made a great cross, but Lautaro missed the ball, being just inches away. And then Perin made a fantastic save in the 74th minute, when the ball came to Mkhitaryan, but he kept the score 1-0, and gave his teammates another chance to level the score and send this game into overtime. But this was just not Juve’s night and Inter managed to secure the victory in the last 15 minutes of the game and goes to the Cup final.COPPA ITALIASemi-final, second legWednesdayInter – Juventus 1-0 (1-0) /first leg: 1-1//Dimarco 15/Thursday22.00: (1.35) Fiorentina (4.90) Cremonese (9.50) /first leg: 2-0/***odds are subject to change
