Inter Milan 2-1 AC Milan
Inter Milan are now one step closer to winning this season’s Coppa Italia after defeating AC Milan last Tuesday night in San Siro.
It was a heated affair as expected, and it heavily featured Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the two got into it for much of the contest.
In fact, it got so heated to the point that the two former Manchester United teammates were seen trashtalking towards the end of the first half, and they even continued their argument down the tunnel at halftime.
For a while, it looked like AC Milan were on their way to winning versus Inter Milan once more since their previous match last October.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic set the tone for the Rossoneri with a clinical goal after the half-hour mark. However, his emotions got the better of him as his two bookings reduced AC Milan to 10 men.
That proved to be costly as Inter Milan seized the opportunity, and the duo of Romelu Lukaku and Christian Eriksen delivered the much-needed goals for Inter Milan along with some classic Coppa Italia 2021 highlights.
It was a much-needed victory for the Nerazzurri since they’ve had a lacklustre start to 2021.
As for AC Milan, their undermanned lineup did them in and they can now fully focus on their Serie A campaign to where they still sit on top despite their rivals slowly creeping up.
Read on below as SBOTOP recaps last night’s football action.
Highlights of the game
Coming into this game, AC Milan weren’t favoured to win as they were missing some of their key players.
Gianluigi Donnarumma, who is their main man at goal, served his suspension after being sent off versus Torino in the previous round while Ismael Bennacer is still recuperating from a knock.
Missing those pieces made the Rossoneri’s defence vulnerable, which is why it was surprising to see them having the momentum early in the game.
In just the second minute of the contest, Rafael Leao tested Inter Milan’s goalkeeper as he launched a low shot near the penalty area, but his shot was too strong to the left.
AC Milan got another chance 10 minutes later as Rafael Leao volleyed the ball for a possible Zlatan Ibrahimovic header, but the latter’s attempt missed the target.
Romelu Lukaku would try to draw first blood inside 24 minutes, but his quick turn and fire was blocked by substitute goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu.
When Ibrahimovic found a sliver of daylight in the 31st minute, the evergreen Swede would finally score the first goal of the evening to give AC Milan the lead.
As the first half drew to a close, Ibrahimovic would engage in a war of words with Lukaku. However, both seemed to have calmed down after the break.
After getting a yellow card earlier in the first half, Ibrahimovic tripped Aleksandar Kolarov and was sent off in the 58th minute with another yellow.
Romelu Lukaku scored the equaliser for the Nerazzurri during the 71st minute via a penalty after Rafael Leao fouled Nicolo Barella inside the box.
Inter continued to bombard AC Milan at goal but they couldn’t find the game-winner up until substitute Christian Eriksen stepped up and scored with a sublime free kick in stoppage time.
Key statistics
Inter Milan clearly used their numerical advantage to their favour as they’ve had 66-per cent of the possession along with 27 total shots and 10 of them on target.
Meanwhile, AC Milan had five total shots and only one on target.
Despite being sent off for the first time since March 2015, Zlatan Ibrahimovic remains the bright spot for the Rossoneri against Inter Milan. He has now scored his eighth goal in his last seven matches against their derby rivals.
AC Milan set the tone in terms of physicality and that resulted to 21 fouls compared to only eight by Inter Milan.
Christian Eriksen’s goal in added time was his first score for Inter Milan since August 6, 2020 against Getafe in the Europa League Round of 16.
What’s next?
Inter Milan would hope that S.P.A.L. would catch Juventus on an off night on Thursday night for the other quarterfinals leg of the Coppa Italia.
Should Juventus lose that one, Inter Milan’s Coppa Italia 2021 odds of winning the trophy would increase dramatically.
In the other side of the bracket, Atalanta will host Lazio tomorrow and the winner of that tiff will face the winner between Napoli and Spezia.
In Serie A, Antonio Conte’s side will have Benevento next on their menu on Sunday evening.
As for AC Milan, a win is in order so that they can maintain their edge in the table.
Stefano Pioli’s men can definitely break out of their funk as their next three Serie A games are against Bologna, Crotone, and Spezia.
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