Inter-Juventus 1-0: Dimarco decides, Nerazzurri in the Italian Cup final

MILAN – Simone Inzaghi’s sense for cups prevailed over Allegri’s: the derby d’Italia, in the Coppa Italia, was won by Inter. Thanks to a goal by Dimarco, after a 1-1 draw in the first leg, he will play the final on May 24, having already clear how his most important semi-final will go, the Milan derby of the Champions League. Even Juventus will already be certain, by that date, of the outcome of their semi-final of the Europa League with Sevilla, which is fundamental in a season conditioned by the verdicts of the sporting justice of the FIGC and UEFA. In the meantime, he can’t even console himself with the guaranteed minimum of 5 million euros from the Supercoppa d’Arabia: they will go to Inter, who are waiting to know the name of the other Italian Cup finalist between the highly favored Fiorentina and Cremonese. The economic balance, also consolidated by the 5 million of this collection, will make President Zhang smile a little, given the period of Chinese legal cases and various setbacks: last Sunday in Empoli he was not recognized, upon entering the grandstand, due to of rapper style clothing.

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Yesterday the smile was justified. Written in theory by the tactical systems based on the very thick midfield, aimed at mutual control rather than attack, the balance was in reality broken very soon: for Inter it was enough to simply try to connect with Lautaro, central striker by profession, while Juventus was unable to do the same with Chiesa, adapted to the role in the absence of Vlahovic, and Di Maria, a pendulum finisher behind him. In Inter’s orthodoxy, the main inspirer was the usual Barella. After the missed cross by both Lautaro and Dzeko, the filter from the edge, observed by Alex Sandro and Locatelli, caught Dimarco, whose slight touch to mock Perin exposed the lack of dynamism of the Juventus defense, which included Bonucci, who he would later complain about the early replacement. The scene attached to the goal, with the referee Doveri handing the ball to an employee ready to put it away in a bag, is a recent novelty created by the sponsors: the memorabilia will be auctioned off.

Less memorable was the reaction of the team behind: few punctures. De Sciglio’s header (wide) and a right-footed shot by Kostic, rejected by Onana who didn’t seem shaken by the personal skirmishes against the Cameroon national team, did not prevent Çalhanoglu, preferred to Brozovic, from managing the dribble at a low pace . Allegri therefore proceeded in the interval to bring Di Maria and Chiesa back to their natural positions, on either side of Milik, the center forward inserted in Kostic’s place with the launch of the 4-3-3.

The gimmick overturned the governance of the game, transferred to Juve, not the result: a goal from a personal action by Dzeko, disallowed for offside, confirmed the primacy of the counterattack and induced Allegri to another relay between Paredes and the booked Locatelli, shortly before Lukaku appeared on the field (for Dzeko) together with Brozovic (for Barella): pardoned by the disqualification by the president of the FIGC Gravina as a victim of racist offenses, this time the Belgian center forward apparently only received boos. From there to the end, for Inzaghi, thoughts did not come from Pogba’s graft (the only real save was made by Perin on Mkhitaryan), but from Barella and Çalhanoglu, both of whom came out with some muscle soreness. No fight spoiled the ending: it’s already progress.

Inter 1 Dimarco 15′ pt
Juventus 0
Inter Milan (3-5-2) Onana – Darmian, Acerbi, Bastoni – Dumfries, Barella (23′ st Brozovic), Çalhanoglu (37′ st Gagliardini), Mkhitaryan, Dimarco – Lautaro (33′ st Correa), Dzeko (23′ st Lukaku). Herds Inzaghi
Juventus (3-5-1-1) Perin – Bremer, Bonucci (23′ st Danilo), Alex Sandro – De Sciglio, Rabiot, Locatelli (18′ st Paredes), Miretti (34′ st Pogba), Kostic (1′ st Milik) – Di Maria – Chiesa. Merry Herds
Referee Duties
Notes Ammonites Locatelli, Mkhitaryan. Spectators 75,491 Takings 4,318,850