Inter Milan were unable to overcome Juventus over two legs to book a place in the final of the Coppa Italia, and the Old Lady will now await one of Atalanta or Napoli for the trophy.
The Nerazzurri were touted as slight favourites to make the final, but Juve are not one to lie down, and are well deserving of their place.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s break in the first leg saw them escape with a 2-1 advantage coming into the return leg in Turin, and we had no intention of letting it slip.
Juventus controlled today’s tie initially, dominating the possession, taking very little risks, and the visitors had to raise their level to stand a chance.
Antonio Conte’s team did do just that, and they enjoyed a strong spell of dominance, but our defence was equal to it. They did look set to level when Christian Eriksen’s free-kick was blasted into the box, but thankfully it was hit at a pace that even the Inter forwards were unable to judge, and it eventually struck Lukaku before narrowly passing the far post.
Inter did bring fight, and that allowed for chances at both ends of the field. Cristiano Ronaldo had our best chance of the evening, when he dribbles his way past two defenders to get a clear view on goal, only for Stefan de Vrij to scramble back to block the shot.
As much as Inter were pushing, they were matched on every level with Juve’s strength and composure not giving enough of an opening to our rivals, and we earned our clean sheet this evening.
Inter may struggle to understand how they have played so well over both legs, and not won a single one of them, and that could well strike alarm bells as they consider the possibility of taking the Serie A crown this season.
Juventus simply showed that they have it all in our two legs against Inter, and you would be silly not to rate our chances in the Champions League as well as in the race for the scudetto.
Patrick
