MILAN: Inter Milan midfielder Federico Dimarco’s first-half goal earned his side a place in the Coppa Italia final for the second year in a row after a 1-0 home win over Juventus in their semi-final second leg on Wednesday secured a 2-1 aggregate victory.

Dimarco poked home the only goal of an underwhelming game at the San Siro, meeting Nicolo Bare­lla’s pass which was inten­ded for Edin Dzeko and rolling past Mattia Perin.

It was the first time in six attempts that holders Inter had got the better of Juve in a Coppa Italia semi-final, ending the visitors’ streak of three consecutive finals and continuing their strong campaign in cup competitions.

Simone Inzaghi’s side have already won the Super Coppa and will face either Fiorentina or Cremonese in the final on May 24 at the Stadio Olimpico. They are also preparing for a blockbuster derby with AC Milan in the Champions League semi-finals.

“It was a wonderful evening, a lot of fair play, both teams played an intense match from start to finish. Clearly, my team deserved [to reach] the final over the two legs,” Inter manager Inzaghi told Mediaset. “The lads did so well tonight, as we never dropped back an inch against a quality opponent. We’ve now got 10 games left in the season, let’s hope that there’s one more [final].”

Juve were surprisingly flat for a match against their arch-rivals which is usually a feisty affair full of controversy, and exit the competition with a whimper. Manager Massi­miliano Allegri admitted that his team weren’t up to Inter’s level in various parts of the match.

“The sensation is the first half, especially the first 15 minutes, we were asleep. It was better from then on, but we didn’t have enough shots on goal and Inter are a very physical team,” he said. “We need to improve the level of concentration and determination if we want to win matches. We need to recharge our batteries, as we’ve lost four of the last five Serie A games and are out of the cup. We need to roll our sleeves up.”

Allegri’s team have lost their simplest route to European football next season and now have to earn a place in continental football via their Serie A placing or by winning the Europa League.

Juve are third in Serie A after having their 15-point penalty for illicit transfer activity revoked but are awaiting a potential new punishment from the Italian Football Federation which could bump them back down the league.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2023