ROME. Under the sign of the Argentine bull, Inter won their ninth Coppa Italia, the second in a row, beating Fiorentina 2-1 in the final at the Olimpico. In Rome as in Riyadh, Simone Inzaghi’s gang confirms their skills in one-off matches and after pocketing the Super Cup in January, they successfully defended the trophy snatched from Juventus last year. A victory that is a formidable boost of confidence in view of the match against Manchester City in the Champions League final, when however it will be necessary to raise the level of performance quite a bit to hope to hit a fantastic treble.
As Italiano had said, the Viola had a high mountain to climb, but until the end they did everything possible to bring the Cup back to Florence after 22 years, now postponing the appointment to the Conference final. Inzaghi was able to deploy the typical formation, with Handanovic in place of Onana and Dzeko preferred to Lukaku alongside Lautaro. While always positive, the Bosnian remained in the shadow of his team-mate, while the three-man defense suffered a bit and even Barella’s uncertain start weighed on the Nerazzurri’s game at the start. But thanks also to the viola, with a very active Bonaventura in the trident with Ikonè and Gonzalez who jousted behind the Cabral point. “For us” the purple curve asked in its spectacular choreography and the team immediately satisfied it, finding the advantage already in the 3′ with Nico Gonzalez, left free on the right by the distracted Nerazzurri defenders on a cross from Ikonè. Fiorentina were beautiful, aggressive and concentrated and Inter suffered it, risking being doubled on shots from Bonaventura and Amrabat and combining a little forward, with uncertain phrasing and various measurement errors. The silence of Inter’s ‘North’ protest against the ticket policy for Istanbul lasted less than announced and gave the team a boost, which raised the center of gravity and increased the pace. In the 23rd minute Dzeko found himself alone in front of Terracciano but missed the goal, a mistake that Lautaro did not make in the 29th minute, primed by Brozovic on the offside edge. It was the hundredth Nerazzurri goal for Toro who, looming over every ball, made life difficult for the Viola, guilty of having often left inviting openings. Too many for the Nerazzurri striker’s talents, punctual in picking up an invitation from Barella to double in the 37th minute, which left the Nerazzurri masters of the pitch until the break.
Fiorentina restarted with the desire to start first, but the only danger for Handanovic was a header from Cabral following a cross from Biraghi. Inzaghi was the first to change something, inserting Lukaku and De Vrij in place of Bastoni, while Italiano brought in Sottil and Mandragora for Ikonè and a not brilliant Castrovilli, then Jovic in place of Amrabat to have more weight forward in the search for the even. Handanovic blocked a dangerous shot from Gonzalez, while Inter leaned on Lukaku to create dangerous chances. The best, however, were for the Viola, with Jovic who headed an impossible-to-miss ball wide, effectively delivering the cup to the nerazzurri. Marotta confirmed Inzaghi on the bench regardless of the results, which continue to arrive. The former striker, at the helm of Lazio and Inter has so far played in eight finals between the Italian Cup and the Super Cup, collecting seven victories. And now he will go to Istanbul.