Lazio revenge, Milan eliminated from Italian Cup
After Bologna’s comeback victory in the Emilian derby with Parma (2-1), the third night of the round of 16 of the Coppa Italia ended with another narrow victory. At the Stadio Olimpico, in fact, Lazio beat Milan 1-0, immediately avenging last Saturday’s defeat in Serie A when the Rossoneri prevailed with the same result after a fiery finale due to a missed penalty kick awarded to the biancocelesti. Deciding the challenge was a header goal by Mattia Zaccagni ten minutes from the end. The men of coach Maurizio Sarri thus fly to the quarterfinals where they will find Bologna.
After an initial phase of balance, the first real chance is of the biancoceleste brand: on 24′ Zaccagni launches Basic in the open field who arrives at the edge of the area and fires a violent left diagonal shot just wide, with Maignan motionless. On 33′ the hosts still dangerous but Castellanos’ shot from inside the area is too central and easy prey for Maignan. Milan tried to react with a header by Loftus-Cheek but it went out of time, then came Saelemaekers but his cross was inaccurate and was blocked by Mandas. At the end of the first half Maignan saves the Devils by fending off a left-footed volley by Isaksen from a close position.
The first goal ball for Milan came at the beginning of the second half: at 51′ Estupinan found Loftus-Cheek with a nice cross who skipped well over Vecino but his header ended high over the crossbar. On 60′ new chance for the Rossoneri but Salemaekers shot ends up in the arms of Mandas. At 69′ Loftus-Cheek comes close to taking the lead with a header just wide from two steps, two minutes later Leao devours the lead by kicking it sky high from the penalty spot. At the 80’80’ Lazio took the lead: a corner by newcomer Nuno Tavares and Zaccagni’s winning break. In the final, the Biancocelesti even came close to doubling but Maignan overcame Noslin. Then Pulisic tried with his left but Mandas did not get past.
Thanks to this victory, Lazio flies to the quarterfinals where it will take on Bologna, the competition’s defending champion, while for Milan, last edition’s finalist, the Coppa Italia still remains taboo. Another quarterfinal had been defined on Wednesday: in fact, Atalanta, with the poker dealt to Genoa (4-0) joined Juventus, which overcame Udinese (2-0). Inter and Napoli, however, will still have to wait for their quarterfinal opponents: the Nerazzurri, who overwhelmed Venezia 5-1, will take on one between Roma and Torino, while the Italian champions, who overcame Cagliari on penalties, will take on one between Fiorentina and Como.
