Juventus vs AC Milan; Coppa Italia Final
Juventus vs AC Milan. Coppa Italia Final.
OlimpicoAttendance65,000.
Juventus 4-0 AC Milan: Bianconeri win fourth straight Coppa Italia after second-half blitz
Wednesday 9 May 2018 23:17, UK
Mehdi Benatia scored twice as Juventus won their fourth Coppa Italia in a row with a crushing 4-0 win over AC Milan at the Stadio Olimpico.
After an even first half, Juventus stunned their opponents with three goals in eight second-half minutes, two of them courtesy of errors from goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Benatia scored (56, 64) either side of Douglas Costa's strike (61) before an own goal from Nikola Kalinic (76) completed Gennaro Gattuso's side's misery.
Juventus need just a point from their final two Serie A games of the season to complete a fourth league-and-cup double in as many years under Massimiliano Allegri.
There was little to choose between the sides in the first period with Gianluigi Buffon forced into smart saves from Patrick Cutrone and Suso at one end while Mario Mandzukic headed Juventus' best chance tamely at Donnarumma at the other.
When the second half began, it was actually Milan who started the brighter, Giacomo Bonaventura and Hakan Calhanoglu both had efforts on target before Bonaventura flashed a low ball across the six-yard box.
That only seemed to shock Juventus into action and after Paulo Dybala has brought two good stops out of Donnarumma, Benatia found himself unmarked from Miralem Pjanic's corner and headed in the opener.
Five minutes later, Costa doubled Juventus' advantage, working the space and hitting a firm left-footed shot from the edge of the box that bounced off Donnarumma's chest and squirmed into the corner.
It only got worse for the 19-year-old goalkeeper. Mandzukic got on the end of a corner but as the ball looped up off his shoulder there appeared little danger for Milan. However, Donnarumma dropped it and Benatia was on hand to lash the ball in from close range.
The closest Milan came to scoring came after good work from Kalinic down the left, his cross bounced awkwardly in front of Blaise Matuidi and the Juventus midfielder was relieved to see the ball come back off the post.
A desperate second half for the Rossoneri was completed as Kalinic flicked another Pjanic corner past Donnarumma at the near post.
Dybala almost added to Donnarumma's ignominy when he spotted the 'keeper off his line but his effort from just inside the Milan half sailed just over the bar.
