What had been a straightforward affair for a long time turned into a genuine cup thriller in extra time. And in the end, the visitors from Bologna were jubilant in Milan, where Inter had first missed a penalty and then conceded after falling behind in extra time. Also because joker Zirkzee worked his magic
Last year and this year, Inter Milan won the Coppa Italia. But just before Christmas, when the Nerazzurri had to wait until the fourth round of this competition, which has been modified for years (since 2007/08, the top eight in the Serie A pre-season are only allowed to play a home game in the round of 16), they had a rude awakening.
Things looked good for a long time in the clash with Bologna, the current surprise club in fourth place in the league, where both teams initially rested a number of regular players. The Nerazzurri controlled the action at home in the Giuseppe Meazza stadium at will against the Rossoblu, who were hardly active in attack. They only made a glimmer of hope in the 12th minute with Fabbian’s fine cross from outside the box. Otherwise, however, it was all Milan: ex-Bremer Klaassen was denied by FCB keeper Ravaglia (7′) and Carlos Augusto missed by a hair’s breadth when aiming to slot home (22′), while Frattesi also failed to beat the visitors’ goalkeeper (31′).
Lautaro is too confident
The game was much the same in the second half: FC Internazionale dominated almost at will, leaving nothing to chance with their once again rock-solid defense – and coach Simone Inzaghi basically only often missed the final pass or the clean finish. This was also the case in the 53rd minute, when Arnautovic got to the ball in a prime position – and fired weakly from a turn. This also upset his teammate Lautaro Martinez.
But the Argentinian world champion did no better shortly afterwards. After a clear handball by Corazza (62′) plus VAR intervention, a penalty was awarded, but Lautaro shot poorly. After a short run-up, the captain only half-cooked the ball into the box, where Ravaglia was on hand (65′).
The game continued in the same vein: Carlos Augusto’s slightly deflected effort went just wide of the top right corner (71′), while nothing more came from FC Bologna – and so the game went into extra time
Zirkzee fine and clever – Thiago Motta slips
And in this extra time, events unfolded in very uncharacteristic Inter fashion. After Carlos Augusto was able to head home from a Dimarco corner (92′), everything looked like a deserved 1-0 win for the favourites – especially as they once again relied on their stable defence with the lead behind them.
However, this overly passive approach was to take its toll, not least because the Inter defense had clearly not taken Thiago Motta’s measures into account. The successful coach of the Rossoblu, who had not really played in this round of 16 for a long time, had only brought on his regular strikers Zirkzee and Ndoye in the closing stages, which more than paid off. The ex-Munich man first set up Beukema’s 1:1 with an elegant outside instep pass (112′), before Ndoye followed up with a fine pinpoint pass during a 2-on-5 counterattack. Free in front of goalkeeper Audero, the Swiss player elegantly lifted the ball into the net (116′).
No one on the FCB substitutes’ bench could contain their celebrations, even coach Thiago Motta ran in and slid on his knees to his 2:1 goalscorer. A short time later, the celebrations were even bigger as Milan were unable to reply – and were thus surprisingly eliminated as defending champions, 2022 winners and nine-time Coppa champions
