AC Milan haven’t achieved much this season — except when playing city rivals Inter Milan.
Milan ruined Inter’s bid for a treble and advanced to the Coppa Italia final with a 3-0 derby win on Wednesday courtesy of two goals from Luka Jovic.
It was Milan’s third win over Inter this season, having also beaten the Nerazzurri in the Italian Super Cup final in January.
And if Milan can win another trophy, coach Sérgio Conceição might have a chance at keeping his job — despite the seven-time European champions sitting ninth in Serie A and likely to miss out on a spot in continental play for next season.
Milan advanced on 4-1 aggregate following a 1-1 first leg.
“It was a very important game for us. As you know we are not that good in Serie A. We had to show the quality today. We had to show the character,” Jovic said. “And we showed it and we are going to Rome.”
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Bologna take a 3-0 lead over Empoli into the second leg of the other semifinal on Thursday.
The final is scheduled for May 14 in Rome.
Inter pressed forward early on and Federico Dimarco struck the crossbar in the 23rd.
Milan struck with their first real chance nine minutes before the break, as Álex Jiménez whipped in a cross for Jovic to nod home.
The Serbian sent half of San Siro into raptures just four minutes after the restart, doubling Milan’s lead after a corner found its way to the far post, where Jovic battled to force it in.
The humiliation of Inter was complete five minutes before stoppage time when Tijjani Reijnders was played free inside the box and easily slotted Milan’s third from an acute angle.
“We have a lot of belief,” Reijnders said. “We have difficulties in the league but we know this is the fastest way to reach [Europe]. And if we play like we did today we can win this trophy.”
It was Inter’s second consecutive loss after the Serie A leaders fell 1-0 at Bologna on Sunday. Inter will play Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals.
Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.
