MILAN: Lautaro Martinez grabbed a first-half double as Inter Milan beat city rivals AC Milan 3-0 on Tuesday to reach the Coppa Italia final, where they will face either Juventus or Fiorentina.

The semi-final second leg was closer than the scoreline suggested, but Simone Inzaghi’s Inter ultimately were comfortable winners on aggregate after a goalless draw in the first fixture.

“I am happy because we are playing another final, we work to bring Inter to the top and tonight we proved it again,” said Martinez, who has endured a difficult season. “The fans are pleased and so are we. There are things said that I don’t like, but I defend this jersey. The club put a lot of faith in me and I try to repay them on the pitch.”

Milan remain without a major trophy since winning the 2011 Serie A title, but the Scudetto is still up for grabs this season.

Stefano Pioli’s men lead Inter by two points in the table, although the reigning champions have a game in hand.

“We wanted to win, we didn’t achieve that, we were certainly up against a strong opponent,” said Pioli. “I don’t think the performance was worthy of a 3-0 but Inter scored at the right times. Naturally going 2-1 down would have created a different match and given us more momentum... we didn’t lack for effort, intensity or chances but it wasn’t our night.”

Inter made a dream start on Tuesday as they struck inside the first four minutes.

Matteo Darmian’s dinked cross found its way to Martinez, and the Argentinean, starting ahead of Edin Dzeko, slammed a volley into the top corner to score his 18th goal of the season in all competitions.

Milan almost levelled before the half-hour through Rafael Leao but the Portuguese was denied by an excellent reflex save from Samir Handanovic. The Slovenian made another smart stop minutes later to keep out Alexis Saelemaekers.

They almost levelled again twice in quick succession five minutes before half-time, as Ivan Perisic somehow scrambled the ball off the line with his chest, before Leao’s effort was kept out by Handanovic’s legs.

But Inter sprung straight up the other end to double their advantage against the run of play, as Joaquin Correa played a lovely through ball into the path of Martinez, who coolly chipped the ball over advancing goalkeeper Mike Maignan.

Milan started the second half brightly, with the defence producing crucial blocks from attempts by Brahim Diaz, Olivier Giroud and Pierre Kalulu.

The Serie A leaders thought they had given themselves hope in the 66th minute through Ismael Benn­acer’s excellent long-range drive.

But the goal was disallowed by VAR due to Kalulu standing in front of Handanovic in an offside position.

Inter secured their place in the final with eight minutes remaining on the counter-attack, as Marcelo Brozovic crossed for substitute Robin Gosens to score.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2022