Disappointing Milan crash out of Coppa Italia

(GSM) – After the lost city derby against Internazionale, Milan were handed a second blow in less than a week when Udinese knocked them out of the Coppa Italia (0-1).

Gokan Inler’s goal ten minutes after half time was enough to see Udinese through to the semi-final. The Zebrette will meet Roma (who beat Catania 1-0 on Tuesday) in the next round.

The Rossoneri fielded a revamped side for this quarter-final with Christian Abbiati, Daniele Bonera and Gianluca Zambrotta returning from long injury spells.

Milan coach Leonardo fielded both Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Filippo Inzaghi but they didn’t grabbed the opportunity to impress the Brazilian manager.

Huntelaar was close to a goal in the beginning of the second half when David Di Gennaro slide-rule pass released the Dutch striker, but Udinese goalkeeper Samir Handanovic did just enough to close him down from six yards.

Just after that it was the away side that took the lead. Alexis Sanchez dispossessed Luca Antonini in the box and pulled back for Gokhan Inler’s snooker shot into the far bottom corner of the net: 0-1.

Right after the goal, Leonardo decided he had seen enough of Huntelaar and subbed him for Marco Borriello. The intervention came without the desired effect: the Italian striker wasn’t able to force the equaliser just like his struggling teammates.

An unthreatened Udinese controlled the match right till the end and will now take on Roma in the semi-final.