AC Milan 1-0 Inter (AET): Late Cutrone Strike Books Semi-Final Spot Ahead of Wasteful Inter

AC Milan booked their place in the semi-finals of the TIM Cup after securing a 1-0 victory over Inter at the San Siro in the second Derby della Madonnina of the season.

Luciano Spalletti started a strong team on Wednesday, however, their vast experience wasn’t enough to overcome Gennaro Gattuso’s Milan over 120 minutes.

The hosts started on the back foot, with Inter having the lion share of possession in the early stages of the game. However, the Rossoneriwere looking dangerous on the counter-attack, something that was catching the visitors out on a number of occasions.

Samir Handanovi? was finally called into action when Giacomo Bonaventura, who was moved from the midfield to the left-wing on Wednesday, rose highest to meet a cross and sting the palms of Inter’s Slovenian goalkeeper with a header.

It was then the turn of AC Milan’s goalkeeper to be called into action, something that appeared to lead to the opening goal of the game. 

Ivan Periši?’s powerful cross was turned into his own net by Antonio Donnarumma, however, the referee decided to overrule the goal after a couple of minutes when it was made clear by VAR that Andrea Ranocchia, who was challenging Milan’s goalkeeper, was in an offside position.

Both sides were as wasteful in the second-half as they were during the first 45 minutes.

However, João Mário did allow Antonio Donnarumma to make a save that his younger brother, Gianluigi Donnarumma, would have been proud of just before the hour mark after the midfielder scuffed his effort from just seven yards out.

Giacomo Bonaventura was than gifted the opportunity to score the opening goal in the game. However, the Italian midfielder was wasteful and missed an open goal after doing well to pounce on a mistake from Handanovi?.

Milan then came within inches of taking the lead late in the match when a curling effort from Suso, which was deflected off the back of Milan Škriniar, rattled the crossbar. 

Both sides were able to survive some late pressure and the TIM Cup quarter-final was set to be decided in extra-time or by a penalty shootout.

The opening goal – and what proved to be the winning goal – of the game finally came in the first-half of extra-time through 19-year-old Patrick Cutrone, with the Italian striker guiding a sumptuous through ball from Suso past a static Samir Handanovi?.

Mauro Icardi and Borja Valero both threatened the Milan goal but were unable to test Antonio Donnarumma, allowing the hosts to see out the remainder of the game and book their spot in the TIM Cup semi-final against SS Lazio next month.

#ACMilan XI: Storari; Abate, Bonucci, Romagnoli, Rodriguez; Kessie, Biglia, Locatelli; Suso, Kalinic, Bonaventura
Subs | Panchina: Donnarumma A., Soncin, Antonelli, Calabria, Musacchio, Paletta, Zapata, Borini, Calhanoglu, Montolivo, Cutrone, André Silva#DerbyMilanopic.twitter.com/78RMzTft4n

— AC Milan (@acmilan) December 27, 2017

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