Inter Milan secured their place in the Coppa Italia final for the second consecutive year with a 1-0 home win over Juventus in their semi-final second leg on Wednesday, earning a 2-1 aggregate victory.
Federico Dimarco scored the only goal of the game in the first half. This was the first time in six attempts that Inter Milan had defeated Juventus in a Coppa Italia semi-final, ending Juventus’ streak of three consecutive finals.
Inter Milan will face either Fiorentina or Cremonese in the final on May 24th at the Stadio Olimpico. Fiorentina leads 2-0 after their semifinal first leg in Cremona, with the second leg to be played on Thursday.
Inter Milan’s manager Simone Inzaghi told Mediaset that his team deserved to reach the final over the two legs, and that the lads did very well, never dropping back an inch against a quality opponent.
Inter Milan, the defending champions, started the game strongly, with Nicolo Barella playing the ball through to Dimarco inside the box, who scored with one touch just 15 minutes into the game.
Edin Dzeko later appeared to have doubled the lead for Inter Milan in the second half, but was flagged offside.
Juve keeper Mattia Perin pulled off a great save to tip Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s attempt wide in the 73rd minute. Juve tried to break through the Inter Milan defence as the clock ticked down, but Inter Milan keeper Andre Onana was alert and prevented any danger.
Juve manager Massimiliano Allegri admitted that his team weren’t up to Inter Milan’s level in various parts of the game, saying that the first 15 minutes, in particular, they were asleep.