AC Milan booked their place in the Coppa Italia final on Wednesday night and they did so in the sweetest of ways, beating city rivals Inter 3-0.
The first leg three weeks prior had finished 1-1 with goals in the second half from Tammy Abraham and Hakan Calhanoglu. That meant it was all to play for in the second leg of the semi-final, but few saw it being as one-sided a scoreline as it ended up being.
Luka Jovic netted a brace, putting Milan ahead in the first half with a header from an Alex Jimenez cross, then firing in a loose ball early in the second half to double the advantage. Tijjani Reijnders put the tie to bed in the closing stages, making it 4-1 on aggregate and five derbies unbeaten.
Sergio Conceicao chose not to make any changes from the team that lost to Atalanta on Sunday. That means the three-man defence was chosen again, while Jovic was given the nod up front despite rumours in the build-up that Tammy Abraham would start. Below is Rohit Rajeev‘s analysis.
Off-the-ball approach
Even though Milan lined up in a 3-4-2-1 shape, off the ball they played a 4-4-2 with Jovic and Leao playing as forwards and Reijnders/Fofana pushing to the wide areas.
The extra player in the wide areas helped Milan to prevent the overloads on the right flank caused by runs from Mkhitaryan or Bastoni, something that usually causes the Rossoneri to scamper to and leave gaps in the centre.
From throw-ins, Milan used a man-to-man approach, as Inter played with two layers of men to receive the throw, but the man-oriented pressing pushed Darmian to kick the ball away after receiving back and conceding possession.
Inter’s first attack came as a result of a disorganised press. Milan pressed Inter towards the byline, but the Nerazzurri fired a long pass and Barella was able to make a run after deceiving Reijnders, which caused an overload as Darmian received the ball completely unmarked.
Beating Inter’s press
Inter – in their 3-5-2 system – have hard-working midfielders and combining with the third centre-back they can stunt Milan’s progression space
Watch Milan’s build-up routine as dynamic movements from different players created space for Milan to penetrate the Inter block.
— Rohit Rajeev (follow @keralista) (@keralista_v2) April 24, 2025
Inter played very high and pressed Milan quite aggressively. They denied Milan space to pass through dynamically shifting their block from the centre to the flanks to deny passing lanes.
To break this, Milan would bait Inter to press by passing back to Mike, and this created a separation between their strikers and midfielders, creating the space.
With one-touch combination play, Milan were able to play out of Inter’s press quite easily.
— Rohit Rajeev (follow @keralista) (@keralista_v2) April 24, 2025
Jovic’s (and Pulisic’s) role
Milan’s goal came with a move that involved Jovic in the build-up and ended with him quite beautifully.
— Rohit Rajeev (follow @keralista) (@keralista_v2) April 24, 2025
Conceicao, in the post-match press conference, spoke about how Pulisic and Jovic sacrificed a lot. What he meant is how Jovic and Pulisic were giving man-marking assignments.
The American had to play as a No.8 to mark Mkhitaryan out of the game while the Serbian marked Asllani, who was the Regista to pull strings for Inter.
Wide open second half
The second half resumed with a goal for Milan. Milan overloaded Inter’s far post, and Martinez expected Theo to target the front post. Instead, the Frenchman swung in a delivery to the far post, and a ricochet off Barella fell kindly for Jovic.
— Rohit Rajeev (follow @keralista) (@keralista_v2) April 24, 2025
Inter made four changes and went full throttle since Milan were 2-0 up, but this again created huge gaps between the midfield and three-man defence.
Milan were still able to find gaps thanks to some good combination play on the right wing.
— Rohit Rajeev (follow @keralista) (@keralista_v2) April 24, 2025
In a deja vu situation from the first leg, Inter’s Mkhitaryan got into a similar position Barella had found himself, which led to Calhanoglu shooting from the edge of the box. However this time there were enough players to block Hakan’s shot and Maignan was not called into action.
Lastly, Milan’s third goal came after Inter’s man-marking mishap. With Jiminez and Fofana pinning the defenders back Mkhitariyan couldn’t close down Tomori down and the play developed while Reijnders made his third man run to get to the end of Leao’s pass and finish the chances.
Conceicao prepared close to the perfect game plan and maybe, just maybe, with a proper gap between games players are buying into his ideas.
His perfect master plan gave up a full xG within the first 20 minutes, give over. Yes the team did very well to take their chances and we were a bit more even after the opening goal but don’t pretend it was perfection because of the result, we were outplayed for most of the game.
can anything he does please the fans
like seriously we just won three nil in the derby and this is what the fans say
I loved the game, after I emerged from behind the couch when it looked like we were going to be dominated. Yes, their first shot on target was late in the half but that’s because their finishing was so terrible.
Very enjoyable game, loved watching Inter get incredibly more frustrated. And Maignan’s amazing save stopped what IMO would have been a certain comeback. I just don’t think it means we turned any sort of corner and we rode our luck a long way.
LOL we were outplayed for most of the game??? Inter’s supposed first half dominance had their first shot on target at 44:45, an easy stop for Mike. Their “dominance” was completely ineffective. Then second half came in and we completely destroyed them. Within 4 minutes we had earned 3 corner kicks, scoring out of the 3rd one. Then we completely controlled the game. They seriously threatened us only once in the second half, with Mike having to make his one good stop of the entire game. Unlike their lack of effectiveness with a number of laughable wide off target shots, we put 3 in the back of their net and they finished the game completely impotent. Are you for real a Milan fan? That was a great defensive performance with a clean sheet and a great offensive performance with 3 goals scored. If all you can take from this humiliating defeat of Inter in the hands of a rather well-organized Milan is what you just said, you don’t deserve to call yourself a Milan fan. We won convincingly.
Not exactly true. Inzaghi had a game plan to counter Milan as well, and for the first 20 minutes it worked.
In the words of Analyst Luca Diddi:
What did Inter do in the first 20–25 minutes? They positioned Barella higher, as a quasi-attacking midfielder, which forced Fofana and Reijnders to track Mkhitaryan and the other midfielder breaking through Jovic’s press. When Jovic went up to press De Vrij, Reijnders would push onto Asllani – and Barella would exploit the space between the lines. Milan struggled to handle that early on, because Pavlovic’s tracking of Barella was too slow.
But then came a turning point. Milan adjusted – Reijnders and Fofana tucked in tighter, closing down the space between the lines. That tactical correction neutralized the advantage Inzaghi tried to create. Milan’s midfield dropped deeper, Pulisic positioned himself more centrally – and suddenly Milan’s lines were compact. A smart, bold decision tactically.
Football isn’t just about one static tactic vs the opponents static tactic. There are always adjustments that players have to make in the middle of the game to outplay the opponent, and Conceicao and the players adjusted to that very well this match.
Being outplayed = baiting them
Frozamilan sempremilan we need the cup
We have one last chance to do something correct on May 14th. Don’t blow it Milan. Salvage something out of this season. At least we can have the Europa League
Nice tactical approach, but the truth is that Inter at the first 25 minutes created major chances to score a goal. Obviously if Inter scored we would’ve had a different game to analyse.
Also Inter is starting to burn out, not to mention their injuries.
Nice approach by Conceicao, but Milan needs an Italian manager. Especially Conte.