Inter scraped through to the Coppa Italia quarter-final after an acrobatic last-gasp Andrea Ranocchia volley forced extra time and Stefano Sensi sealed the 3-2 win over impressive Empoli.

They go on to face either Roma or Lecce in the next phase of the tournament.

The Nerazzurri were top of the Serie A table and fresh from winning the Supercoppa Italiana, so rotated the squad for this Round of 16 tie, including Ionut Radu in goal. Ex-Inter striker Andrea Pinamonti and former Milan man Patrick Cutrone were no strangers to San Siro, although COVID restrictions saw a maximum crowd of 5,000.

It was the worst possible start, as within a couple of minutes Simone Romagnoli was clambering all over Tucu Correa, whose left hamstring appeared to buckle under the strain. The Argentine limped off in tears to be replaced by Alexis Sanchez.

The substitute opened the scoring, as Denzel Dumfries whipped an inch-perfect cross onto his head at the back post.

Coppa Italia Liveblog: Inter vs. Empoli

Empoli threatened on the counter, Radu getting into a panic on Pinamonti, then Jacopo Furlan made a great save on Dumfries after Alexis Sanchez caught defenders napping.

Furlan was again decisive with a double save on Lautaro Martinez after his own poor clearance, then Andrea Ranocchia’s header flashed over the bar.

However, Empoli equalised when Kristjan Asllani pulled it back from the by-line and second half substitute Nedim Bajrami controlled to fire in from 14 yards into the near bottom corner.

Furlan made a great one-handed reaction save on the Alexis Sanchez effort deflected off Mattia Viti and on the resulting corner Danilo D’Ambrosio nodded over the bar.

It turned into a siege, Furlan parrying from Dumfries, but against the run of play Cutrone saw his shot charged down by Dumfries and the referee awarded a penalty. However, after the VAR review, it became clear that the ball had struck the arm flush to his torso and not the arm that was raised, so the decision was changed.

Empoli were still fired up and Cutrone’s scorcher was palmed over the bar. Moments later, they did take the lead, as Cutrone’s header bounced off the underside of the crossbar and ricocheted into the net off goalkeeper Radu’s leg.

It was heading towards a shock defeat until the final minute, when Edin Dzeko knocked down a Hakan Calhanoglu free kick, Ranocchia let it bounce and then acrobatically turned in the flying volley from 13 yards to draw Inter level.

Video: Ranocchia acrobatic volley revives Inter

Alexis Sanchez had the ball in the net during stoppages, but only after he’d wandered offside, so it went to extra time.

Furlan flapped at a Dzeko header on D’Ambrosio’s cross, but Romagnoli made a mess playing out from defence and Stefano Sensi smashed into the top corner from the edge of the area on an Alexis Sanchez assist. Incredibly, the midfielder wasn’t even meant to be in the Inter squad, as he is set to join Sampdoria on loan.

Cutrone tested Radu, but Inter held on for the extra time victory.

Inter 3-2 Empoli aet

Alexis Sanchez 13 (I), Bajrami 61 (E), Radu og 76 (E), Ranocchia 91 (I), Sensi 104 (I)

10 thought on “Coppa Italia | Inter 3-2 Empoli aet: Ranocchia and Sensi to the rescue”
  1. crankie it is what the old Rubentus did, scoring late winners and showing the grinta. Just relax until the next Derby d’Italia for Inter Mole Sandro to gift another present on a silver platter. Worry more about your side, the pub team and whipping boys of CL (7/9).

    Where are the midfield reinforcements?

    Why is Arthur still in Turin when he was already looking at London properties?

    Tell Arrivabene that this is not Ferrari.

  2. Crickey is an Australian term used, but as you are the resident village troll and chief numpty on this forum I would not expect nothing less. After all someone born in a trailer park in Athens Georgia now learning CRT is destined to fail. Have you not got your night shift in the warehouse to finish?

    Only a clown would beg someone over Christmas. Sad, pathetic and I actually feel bad for you lol.

  3. I honestly don’t understand why some of them claim it’s because of Rube that inter are better which is nonesense. It seems tho they’ll be helping Inter again by letting Dybala join Inter they can continue claiming that ex-Rube is what making inter better something that Inter don’t mind at all.

  4. Anything else you guys want to copy or steal from Juventus Shinter boys? We change our logo so you duds go and change your logo (still looks c*ap by the way). You can’t win anything for years so you make up calciopoli and our scudetti and steal our star players, You again can’t win a trophy for the last 10 years so you go and get ex-Juventus directors and coaches to show you how to run a club and how to win a game of football. Enjoy your short cycle kids because as sure as night follows day, Juve will be back to dominate. And remember this kiddies – Inter only ever wins anything when Juve is in a rebuilding phase. When Juve is on top and dominating, Shinter can’t even get close.

  5. With Ranocchia and Sensi both scoring, that takes the number of individual goal scorers in the squad to 20, 2 ahead of Man City, even with less games and competitions played.

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