Milan and Lazio drew 0-0 in the first leg of the Coppa Italia Semi-Final, as the visitors had the better of the game, but Hakan Calhanoglu missed a sitter.
Milan and Lazio drew 0-0 in the first leg of the Coppa Italia Semi-Final, as the visitors had the better of the game, but Hakan Calhanoglu missed a sitter.
This was the first leg of the Coppa Italia Semi-Final, with the winners going on to face Juventus or Atalanta in Rome. These sides met here on Sunday, Milan emerging 2-1 winners amid controversy, as VAR failed to catch Patrick Cutrone scoring with his arm. Ricardo Rodriguez and Davide Calabria were not fully fit, so Fabio Borini was re-routed to left-back. Ciro Immobile returned to the starting XI after a muscular issue, Martin Caceres stepping in for injured Stefan de Vrij.
The visitors took the initiative early on, but Luiz Felipe’s effort from a corner was charged down and Immobile blasted wide after getting past Alessio Romagnoli.
Jordan Lukaku’s cross was about to find a Lucas Leiva diving header from eight yards, but makeshift left-back Borini got there for a decisive block.
Immobile and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic tested Gianluigi Donnarumma from distance, but Lazio failed to find a breakthrough.
After the restart, Milinkovic-Savic should’ve done better with a free header wide on Dusan Basta’s cross, but Immobile did get his head to a Lukaku assist and forced Donnarumma into a desperate reaction save with his legs.
Lazio started to pin Milan back again for long periods, but Milinkovic-Savic tried to set up substitute Luis Alberto rather than go for goal himself.
Immobile’s curler flashed just past the far post, but Milan finally had a chance on 75 minutes when substitute Cutrone’s glancing header was beaten away by Thomas Strakosha only for Hakan Calhanoglu to blast the rebound over an open goal.
Milan 0-0 Lazio
Milan: G Donnarumma; Abate, Bonucci, Romagnoli, Borini; Kessie, Biglia, Locatelli (Calhanoglu 57); Suso, Kalinic (Andre Silva 83), Bonaventura (Cutrone 70)
Lazio: Strakosha; Caceres, Luiz Felipe, Radu; Basta, Parolo (Nani 76), Leiva, Milinkovic-Savic, Lukaku; Felipe Anderson (Luis Alberto 63); Immobile (Lulic 83)
Ref: Guida