Milan Advance to Coppa Italia Quarter Finals on Penalties

In a frosty January evening, Milan overcame Torino on penalties to continue their run in the domestic cup, courtesy of a Hakan Calhanoglu decisive penalty conversion and a Ciprian Tatarusanu save from Tomas Rincon.

Three days after Milan’s clear 2-0 win at the San Siro, the Rossoneri and Marco Giampaolo’s Torino were back on the field for the classic back-to-back clash, challenging for a place in the Quarter Finals of the Coppa Italia – which was an important target for both teams, even if for different reasons. 

The Granata, and especially Marco Giampaolo, were looking for a chance to save a season that, so far, didn’t provide much joy or satisfactions for them. Stefano Pioli and his guys, on the other hand, were hungry and willing to demonstrate that – even in the second Italian competition, they want to add some new silverware to their trophy showcase.

However, despite such an intro, those who were expecting a spectacular match were definitely wrong. After the harsh defeat from the weekend, Marco Giampaolo’s plan appeared very clear from the beginning: Let Milan play, park the bus in front of the goal, and hope to win the lottery in case the match would be decided with a penalty shootout.

For the Rossoneri, penalties were the worst case scenario – not only because of the memories of their never-ending clash with Rio Ave only three months ago, but also due to the quantity of players from their rosters unavailable for injuries.

The big surprise from the first half was, with no doubt, the return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from the start – as most Rossoneri were rather expecting him to be sent in later in the game – as well as of Mateo Musacchio  in defense.

Milan took the control of the match, without creating any issue to Vanja Milinkovic-Savic: Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a few chances to draw first blood, but the Serbian goalkeeper was eager to show he can be on the same level as his more famous brother Sergej.

The were no emotions on the first half, a just a few more in the second – starting with the substitution of Ibrahimovic with Hakan Chalanoglu, which prompted Rafael Leao to switch to a the full-forward position.

The Rossoneri tested Torino’s goalkeeper a few times but Vanja Milinkovic-Savic was always able to avoid to deny their efforts, despite a few not-so-stylish saves. And, whenever he had no answer, he got some help from the sticks. Davide Calabria, who’s getting more and more at ease in his role of an emergency midfielder, hit the post from a fine Diogo Dalot service – who had also seen his volley effort crashing against the post a few minutes earlier.

Despite Stefano Pioli asking for some extra effort from Jens Petter Hauge, Brahim Diaz, Theo Hernandez and Franck Kessié, the match dragged itself wearily to the penalty shootout lottery.

Milan fans got a shiver run down their spine, remembering the infinite race with Rio Ave, which ended with a Gigio Donnarumma save. But tonight, the Rossoneri didn’t need so many attempts to win the race as a perfect five-out-of-five record from the spot was enough, thanks to Ciprian Tatarusanu’s save from Thomas Rincon.

There were also some bad news for Pioli, however: Donnarumma was shown a red card by referee Paolo Valeri for protesting from the bench for a disallowed penalty. It will thus be again up to Tatarusanu to mind the goal of the Rossoneri in the upcoming Quarter Finals – possibly against cross-town rivals Inter.

 

MATCH REPORT

January 12, 2021 – Coppa Italia 2020-21 Round of 16
MILAN-TORINO 0-0 after extra time 5-4 on penalties

PENALTY SEQUENCE: Belotti (T) goal, Kessié (M) goal, Lukic (T) goal, Hernandez (M) goal, Lyanco (T) goal, Tonali (M) goal, Rincon (T) saved, Romagnoli (M) goal, Milinkovic-Savic (T) goal, Calhanoglu (M) goal

REFEREE: Mr. Valeri from Rome
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Tonali, Kessié (M), Rincon, Linetty, Lukic, Lyanco, Gojak (T)