Quarter Final, Coppa Italia
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
Inter Lazio 2-0
Lazio lose in Milan with yet again more VAR controversy
The team
Marco Baroni decided to give Nuno Tavares and Adam Marusic a rest so in came Luca Pellegrini, back in the squad after being left out of the Serie A and European list of players, and Manuel Lazzari. Loum Tchaouna was tried up front from the beginning for the first time.
Lazio should have something to prove after the 0-6 and Simone Inzaghi’s wild celebrations, considered by many fans as disrespectful. The winner of this quarterfinal would face Milan in the semis.
First half
Lazio started well and in the 9th minute had a chance to score. Mattia Zaccagni to Boulaye Dia who once in the box tried a shot that was walled by Yann Bissek into corner. In the 18th minute Tchaouna to Gustav Isaksen, the Dane raced down the pitch on the left and once inside the penalty area tried a shot that Josep Martinez parried into corner.
In the 24th minute Inzaghi was forced to substitute Matteo Darmian with Denzel Dumfries.
Nine minutes later there was the first indication of how the match was going to go. Isaksen was fouled close to the box but the referee booked him for diving. A booking for diving is a real rarity in Italian football. It was clearly a foul, by the way.
Inter, who had been completely absent from the game so far, had a corner in the 39th minute. Federico Dimarco took it, the Lazio defence cleared, ball at the edge of the box but central, Marko Arnautovic with a fantastic volley put the home side in the lead. A truly magnificent goal from the former West Ham centre-forward.
There were however two problems. Firstly, Stefan de Vrij was in offside and right in front of Christos Mandas blocking his view. Secondly, Dumfries held onto Nicolò Rovella with both hands as the Lazio midfielder was about to launch himself towards Arnautovic.
In other words the goal should have been disallowed. But VAR does not work in Lazio’s favour this season. After the match there also came the incredible words of the head of the referees Gianluca Rocchi: “Mandas could not have reached that ball so de Vrij cannot be considered offside”. What? A new rule?
Second half
Lazio re-organised and continued to play like they did in the first half. In the 53rd minute Isaksen went down the right wing, went into the box and from the byline tried to cross into the middle but Martinez managed to intervene and the Inter defence cleared. In the 59th minute Lazzari crossed and Mattia Zaccagni tried an acrobatic volley which was too central.
On the hour, five substitutions. Tijani Noslin, Pedro and Nuno Tavares for Tchaouna, Zaccagni and Pellegrini for Lazio, Joaquin Correa, Alessandro Bastoni and Hakan Calhanoglu for Arnautovic, Dimarco and Kristijan Asllani for the Neroazzurri.
In the 76th minute Correa in the box, minimal touch from behind by Samuel Gigot, penalty for Inter which Calhanoglu put away. 2-0 for Inter and game over. Nothing much happened from then on apart from the top of the crossbar hit by a deflected Pedro shot. To note was the debut in Biancocleste of Arijon Ibrahimović.
There was nothing Lazio could do tonight. Everybody wanted the Milan derby in the Coppa Italia semi final including the Football Federation, the refs, commentators, the TV network, and this is exactly what they will get.
Who played for Inter
Martinez, Pavard, De Vrij, Bisseck, Darmian (22' Dumfries), Frattesi (84' Barella), Asllani (63' Calhanoglu), Zielinski, Dimarco (63' Bastoni), Taremi, Arnautovic (63' Correa)
Substitutes: Calligaris, Taho, Lautaro Martinez, Acerbi, Mkhitaryan, De Pieri, Alexiou, Berenbruch, Topalovic, Cocchi
Manager: S. Inzaghi
Who played for Lazio
Mandas, Lazzari, Gigot, Romagnoli (46' Gila), Pellegrini (61' Nuno Tavares), Rovella, Guendouzi, Isaksen (78' Ibrahimovic), Dia, Zaccagni (61' Pedro), Tchaouna (61' Noslin)
Substitutes: Provedel, Furlanetto, Belahyane, Provstgaard, Marusic
Manager: Baroni
Referee: Fabbri
Goals: 39' Arnautovic, 76' Calhanoglu (pen)
Booked: Asllani (I), Isaksen (L), Pellegrini (L), Guendouzi (L), Gigot (L), Ibrahimovic (L), Dumfries (I)
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