Sports

Inter top Juventus to win Coppa Italia

Sports Desk, May 11 (EFE).- Ivan Perisic was the hero Wednesday as Inter Milan hoisted the Coppa Italia trophy for the first time since 2011 after a 4-2 extra-time triumph over holders Juventus in Wednesday’s final at Olimpico stadium in Rome.

The Coppa win follows their triumph against Juve in the Italian Supercoppa and the triple remains a real prospect for the Nerazzurri, who trail Serie A leaders AC Milan by just 2 points with two games left.

For the Bianconeri, Wednesday’s clash represented their last remaining chance for hardware in 2021-2022 and they found the result hard to swallow.

Nobody felt the sting more than coach Massimiliano Allegri, who ended up watching the second extra-time period from the stands after picking up a red card for an outburst following the second of the two Perisic goals that provided the winning margin for Inter.

Now in his second stint at Juve, Allegri came into the contest having never lost a Coppa Italia final. Four of the club’s record 14 Coppa titles came with him at the helm in 2015-2018.

Nicolo Barella put Inter up 1-0 with a goal in the 7th minute and that score held up until the break, thanks to stops by Samir Handanovic to deny Juve’s Paulo Dybala, Dusan Vlahovic, and Matthijs de Ligt.

Juventus drew level in the 50th minute with a goal by Alex Sandro and then went ahead two minutes later on a Vlahovic effort.

The score was still 2-1 in favor of the Bianconeri when Inter’s Lautaro Martinez went down in the box and the referee pointed to the spot, ignoring vociferous protests from the Juventus players and coaches.

Hakan Calhanoglu converted to make it 2-2 in the 80th minute.

Six minutes into the first extra-time, VAR intervened to have the referee take a second look at a foul by Juve’s De Ligt against Stefan de Vrij and the review led to a second penalty for Inter.

Perisic stepped to the spot and struck home to give Inter a 3-2 advantage. The Croatian international completed his brace in the 102nd minute to seal the win for Inter. EFE apa/dr

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