Inter Milan has once again proven why they are touted as the best football club in all of Italy as they successfully defended their Copa Italia title against Fiorentina at Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday. The team showed sheer resilience as they came back into the game after conceding the opening goal to the rivals within the first 3 minutes. Goals from Striker Lautaro Martinez ensured Inter a hard fought 2-1 victory and a second straight Copa Italia title.
This was the first time that these two teams have come fact-to-face in a domestic tournament final as both sides are now preparing for a European final next month. The match began with Fiorentina going into attack mode, which paid off as striker Nicolas Gonzalez scored the first goal for his team just 3 minutes into the first half. This happened when Jonathan Ikone sent in a sharp cross to Gonzalez, who was able to fire the ball into the nets to give Fiora the early lead.
However, Inter Milan felt the threat and began fighting back there on. They came pretty close to equalize midway through the half when Edin Dzeko shot the ball towards the Fiorentina goal, which was a bit too high andgoalkeeper Pietro Terracciano punched away the shot over the bar just in time.
Inter Milan finally got the equalizer as Lautaro Martinez shot the ball into the nets from a tight angle in the 29th minute to bring the scores level. He then followed it up with the second goal for Inter that came in the form of a close-range volley pushed high into the nets at 37 minutes. At teh end of half time, Inter Milab were leading Fiorentina 2-1.
Fiorentina tried to fight back in the second half but rarely posed a threat to the solid Milan defence lineup and Terracciano’s class goalkeeping skills. The goalie made a couple of remarkable saves against powerful strikes from Romelo Lukaku and Federico Dimarco to keep the opponents at bay. Fiorentina’s best chance to equalise came when Luka Jovic shot a promising strike at the Inter goal, but it was swiftly saved by Handanovic before the ball could even reach Terracciano. In the end, Inter Milan held onto the lead as the referee blew the whistle, signalling the end of the match and Inter’s successful title defense.
Copa Italia has been the stage for the finest show of Italian football, and winning the the 100 year old tournament is considered a huge achievement in club football. This victory has given Inter Milan not just their second straight Copa Italia title, but also their ninth title overall, cementing their legacy as the most successful Italian football club of Copa Italia after Juventus, who are at the top with 14 Italia titles.
Lautaro Martinez has been in impeccable form forInter Milan, delivering whenever his team needs it. The striker has appeared in all 54 of Inter Milan’s matches this season and now has a career-best 27 goals across all competitions for Inter Milan in this season itself. Needless to remind the the man had already helped the Argentina National Football lift the 2022 FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1986.
Inter Milan did start badly, perhaps due to a wrong approach, which is rare for a team of this class, but the team did well to stay in the game and then turned things around in their favour to hold on to what belonged to them. THE COPA ITALIA TITLE!
Now as the Premier League wheels keep turning, Fiorentina now goes on to lock horns with West Ham United in the Conference League final on June 7, while Inter Milan will be facing off against the Premier League table toppers Manchester City on June 10.
