Juve through to Coppa Italia final after scoreless second-leg

Juventus and AC Milan’s Coppa Italia semi-final finished 1-1 on aggregate after a goalless second-leg in Turin, which sent the hosts through to yet another final on away goals.

Ronaldo’s missed penalty didn’t prove costly as the visitors were reduced to ten men shortly after, nullifying most of their attacking threat.

The Old Lady carved out their first big chance after just a minute. Alex Sandro dribbled into the box past multiple defenders, He pulled back to Douglas Costa, who was in space on the edge of the box, who fired his shot just wide.

Maurizio Sarri’s side continued to dominate the opening exchanges and were wrongly awarded a penalty in the 15^th minute.

Daniele Orsato consulted the VAR screen and decided that the ball brushing Davide Calabria’s elbow was enough to warrant pointing to the spot, despite his proximity to Ronaldo’s control and the natural position of the defender’s turning body.

Justice was done when Ronaldo struck the base of Donnarumma’s right-hand post, but disaster struck for the Rossoneri just six seconds later.

Milan cleared the ball upfield from the rebound and as their centre forward Ante Rebic went to challenge Danilo for the high ball, the Croatian striker produced a kung-fu kick worthy of Nigel de Jong in the 2010 World Cup Final. He kicked the Brazilian full back high in the chest, almost catching his face.

Rebic’s wild kick (left) that saw him sent-off (credit: BT Sport)

Rebic’s resultant red card left the visitors with over three quarters of the game to play a man down, but the Bianconeri struggled to convert their possession into efforts on goal. In truth, it killed any entertainment in the contest.

Blaise Matuidi fired a volley straight at Donnarumma on the half hour and Ronaldo forced a comfortable save five minutes before the break.

Stefano Pioli’s side showed a little more urgency in attack after the interval; Çalhanoglu sent a diving header just wide of near post in the 48^th minute and centre half Simon Kjaer also went close with a header of his own, with ten minutes remaining. But they never mounted a serious spell of pressure all game.

Juve spent most of an extremely drab and slow-tempo second half passing side to side and wasting corners, but didn’t need to take any unnecessary risks thanks to the score draw in the first-leg.

They’ll face Napoli or Inter Milan in the final in Rome on Wednesday night.

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