ROME — Inter Milan captured its second trophy of the season after beating Juventus 4-2 in extra time in the Coppa Italia final in Rome on Wednesday. It was a frenetic match in which the Nerazzurri went ahead, squandered a one-goal lead and then scored three unanswered to regain control. In the process, Juventus will end the season trophy-less for the first time since 2010-11. Inter have now won eight Coppa Italia trophies and in the process broke an 11-year drought in the cup with the extra-time win. This is also the second trophy of the season for the Nerazzurri after winning the Italian Super Cup against the same Juventus, he said in January.
The first half started with Inter Milan pushing and controlling the game in an incredible atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico. And the Nerazzurri found the opening goal of the night with Italian midfielder Nicolò Barella, who scored a stunning goal and left Juve goalkeeper Mattia Perin immobile. After Inter managed to break the score, Juventus changed their attitude and was forced to be more aggressive in attack. The Bianconeri had some real chances with strikers Paulo Dybala and Dusan Vlahović leading the charge, but in both cases Inter captain and goalkeeper Samir Handanovic saved the team from him. Marcelo Brozovic came close to scoring Inter’s second goal, but his attempt went wide late in the first half.
The second half is where things got a little crazy as we saw both teams lose the lead. Juventus started very well and found two goals in the span of two minutes that completely changed the flow of the match. Alex Sandro took advantage of an incredible error by Samir Handanovic to level things up. Inter weren’t even aware of Juventus’ goal and Paulo Dybala’s subsequent Bianconeri counter-attack saw him find Dusan Vlahović between the lines. The Serbian striker’s first attempt was saved by Handanovic, but Vlahović took advantage of the rebound to put Juve ahead that left the Bianconeri faithful on edge at the Stadio Olimpico.
With Inter looking for a draw, Simone Inzaghi opted for three changes, with Joaquín Correa, Denzel Dumfries and Federico Dimarco replacing Edin Dzeko, Matteo Darmian and Danilo D’Ambrosio. On the other hand, Allegri took out Denis Zakaria and Federico Bernardeschi in favor of Leonardo Bonucci and Manuel Locatelli. Inter pressed hard until the referee awarded the Nerazzurri a penalty after Lautaro Martínez was fouled in the box by Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt. The plucky Hakan Calhanoglu fired a missile from the penalty spot to find the back of the net in the 80th minute to send the match into extra time.
Extra time gave us a couple of goals from a likely hero, as Inter Milan were awarded another penalty, with De Ligt the prime suspect once again, this time with a foul on Stefan de Vrij. With Calhanoglu and Lautaro Martínez substituted, Ivan Perisic stepped forward to deliver a nearly perfect conversion from the spot. Three minutes later, the Croatian winger scored an incredible goal from outside the box to seal a resounding 4-2 victory for the Nerazzurri to lift another trophy of the season. Now their quest for the domestic treble lives on, with their eyes now on the scudetto, just two points behind AC Milan with two games to go.
Reference-www.cbssports.com