02 February 2021
Juventus sealed first-leg advantage in the Coppa Italia semi-finals after defeating Inter 2-1 at the San Siro on Wednesday evening. Lautaro Martinez opened the scoring in the first half, but a Cristiano Ronaldo brace ensured that the Bianconeri would return to Turin with an advantage
LAUTARO OPENS THE SCORING
The two teams met just weeks after the league encounter at the San Siro, which saw the Nerazzuri run out 2-0 winners. Antonio Conte’s side wasted no time in stunning Juventus with an early lead, as they made it 1-0 in the ninth minute of play. Alexis Sanchez won the ball in midfield and laid it off to Barella, who ran up the right flank and squared it for Lautaro Martinez, who had beaten de Ligt and shot it under Buffon into goal.
RONALDO BRACE
The Bianconeri equalised in the 25th minute when the referee, upon consulting with VAR, judged the pull on Cuadrado in the box by Young to be a penalty. Ronaldo stood up and converted with ease, sending Handanovic the wrong way. Confidence was instilling itself with each Juventus pass and it was Ronaldo who turned the scoreline on its head, making it 2-1 in favour of Juventus. Inter played the ball back, Handanovic was way off his line, Ronaldo stole the ball from Bastoni and he sent it towards goal, seeing it bounce off the upright and into the net.
INTER DOMINATE BUT NO GOAL
Into the second half and it was Inter who dominated from start to finish. First blood was nearly drawn when they were brilliantly denied by Demiral off the line after Alexis Sanchez took aim after spotting Buffon off his line. The hosts kept going in search for an equalizer, but they had to battle with Buffon, who was called into making a big save from close range, denying Darmian inside the box with a one-handed save. Barella then saw his acrobatic attempt sail just wide of goal, but despite all their attempts, it was Pirlo and his players who were left smiling.
Inter: Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Brozovic, Vidal, Young; Lautaro Martinez, Alexis Sanchez
Inter bench: Padelli, Radu, Gagliardini, Vecino, Kolarov, Sensi, Ranocchia, Perisic, Eriksen, D’Ambrosio, Pinamonti
Juventus: Buffon; Cuadrado, de Ligt, Demiral, Alex Sandro; Bernardeschi (Danilo 76’), Bentancur (Athur 76’), Rabiot, McKennie (Chiellini 89’); Kulusevski (Chiesa 89’), Ronaldo (Morata 76’)
Subs: Szczesny, Pinsoglio, Danilo, Chiellini, Bonucci, Dragusin, Frabotta, Arthur, Peeters, Fagioli, Chiesa, Morata
