Inter vs Milan 3-0: Lautaro Pushes Nerazzurri to Coppa Italia Final

The fourth Derby di Milano of the season finally favored Inter, who disposed of their cross-town rivals Milan on Tuesday with a sounding 3-0 score to book their ticket to the Coppa Italia Final. The Nerazzurri will meet the winner of tomorrow’s clash between Juventus and Fiorentina in the Rome Final on May 11. 

Under the eye of their former legend Adriano, who watched the match from the San Siro stands, Simone Inzaghi’s boys benefited from the best version of Lautaro Martinez this season. The Argentine steered the match in his side’s favor with a killer brace in the first half before Robin Gosens rounded up the score towards the end of the game.

Milan were left speechless as they were the better side for large portions of the match but were unable to find the back of the net – an all but too frequent problem for the Rossoneri in the past few weeks.

Lautaro Martinez Bags First Half Brace for Inter

The Derby caught fire fast. On four minutes, Matteo Darmian played the ball for Lautaro Martinez, who came up with a lightning fast volley that bent Mike Maignan’s hands and gave Inter a sudden lead.

Milan replied with a Frank Kessié conclusion that hit the side netting. Inter’s next (and only) chance was a Hakan Calhanoglu free kick crashed into the Rossoneri wall.

Milan took control and were the dominating force for most of the first period. Rafael Leao attacked from the left, forcing Samir Handanovic to concede a corner kick. Alexis Saelemaekers challenged the Slovenian shot-stopper from outside the box and found him alert. Then, it was Olivier Giroud to deflect a Sandro Tonali shot that seemed destined to find the back of the net.

Inter started to struggle to contain Milan’s assaults, especially along the left channel where Theo Hernandez and Leao formed the usual unstoppable chain.

On 38 minutes, Milan had their best chance: Hernandez penetrated well into Inter’s box and offered Kessié a chance to tuck the ball home from point-blank range, but Ivan Perisic came to the rescue and blocked the ball right on the goal line with a desperate slide tackle.

Just after averting the danger though, Inter punished the opposition in perfect Italian football-style: goal sbagliato, goal subito (“To miss a goal means to concede one”). Perisic again served Martinez with a brilliant filtering pass on the counter and El Toro chipped the ball past Maignan, doubling the Nerazzurri‘s lead. 

VAR Frustrates Milan Hopes as Gosens Puts the Match to Bed

Pioli brought in Brahim Diaz and Junior Messias after the half-time break, leaving Tonali and Saelemaekers on the bench. 

Lautaro wanted a third one and tested again Maignan six minutes after the restart but this time the Frenchman had the upper hand.

Just like in the first half, the Rossoneri dominated the middle portion of the period as especially Brahim Diaz instilled new creative forces in Pioli’s band. Milan did manage to pull one back when, from a free-kick pushed back by Inter’s defense, Ismael Bennacer fired a missile that left Handanovic hapless. However, referee Mariani disallowed Milan’s effort on grounds of a Pierre Kalulu offside position after an extended VAR check.

The missed chance shattered the Rossoneri’s hopes, who conceded again before full time. Robins Gosens, who was sent in by Simone Inzaghi in the second half, added to Milan’s woes on 81 minutes as he tapped the ball in from a Marcelo Brozovic service. It was an overly sever punishment for the Rossoneri, one that could also have an impact on the race for the Scudetto from a mindset point of view.  

 

MATCH SCORECARD

April 19, 2022 – Coppa Italia 2021-2022 Semi Finals
INTER – MILAN 3-0

SCORERS: 4′ Lautaro Martinez, 40′ Lautaro Martinez, 82′ Gosens