Atalanta’s journey in the 2022-2023 Coppa Italia Frecciarossa ends at the quarter-finals stage as Inter edge out a 1-0 win at the stadium Meazza in Milan thanks to a second-half goal from Darmian.
The match proved to be a very balanced and hard-fought one since the opening minutes, with the first chance coming off Barella on 21 minutes: the shot was well smothered by Musso though. Calhanoglu had the opportunity to put the hosts ahead in the 41st minute but thumped the post with his left foot. Gosens, one of our former players, fired over on 43 minutes but the final chance of the first half was for Atalanta, as Mæhle whipped in a cross for Zapata, who scuffed the header.
The second half was much more lively and rich in goalscoring chances. Mæhle had the first one as he fired over from inside the box in the 54th minute and two minutes later, Lukaku’s header was smothered by Musso. Inter found the breakthrough 57 minutes into the game through Darmian, who turned Lukaku’s pass into the bottom corner. The hosts looked dangerous again with a wide Mkhitaryan shot but Atalanta started pushing forward in search of an equaliser, producing a Boga chance (with a left-foot effort that grazed the post) and a Lookman strike that was saved by Onana in the 86th minute. Despite several attempts in the dying minutes of the match, Inter held on to their lead and thus qualified for the semifinals. Atalanta will be back to work on Wednesday when they will be turning their focus to the league and their trip to Sassuolo. An afternoon training session, taking place at the Centro Bortolotti behind closed doors, is on the agenda.
INTER 1-0 ATALANTA
Scorers: Darmian 57 (I).
Inter: Onana, Darmian, De Vrij, Acerbi, Dumfries (D’Ambrosio 77), Barella, Calhanoglu (Asllani 72), Mkhitaryan, Gosens (Dimarco 72), Lukaku (Dzeko 72), Lautaro (Correa 86). Unused bench: Cordaz, Botis, Gagliardini, Bellanova, Carboni, Zanotti, Fontanarosa, Bastoni. Coach: Simone Inzaghi.
Atalanta: Musso, Toloi, Djimsiti, Scalvini (Soppy 72), Hateboer (Éderson 67), de Roon, Koopmeiners, Mæhle, Pašalić (Lookman 55), Boga (Muriel 67), Zapata (Højlund 55). Unused bench: Rossi, Sportiello, Okoli, Ruggeri, Vorlický, Demiral. Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini.
Referee: Daniele Chiffi from Padua.
Assistant referees: Dario Cecconi from Empoli and Mauro Galetto from Rovigo.
Fourth official: Lorenzo Maggioni from Lecco.
V.A.R.: Gianluca Aureliano from Bologna.
A.V.A.R.: Oreste Muto from Torre Annunziata.
Notes: Gosens (I), Lautaro Martinez (I), Soppy (A), Correa (I), and Onana (I) booked.
