Juventus 0-0 Inter Milan (2-1 agg.): Three Things We Learned

Juventus reached their sixth Coppa Italia in the last seven seasons as a 0-0 draw against Inter Milan helped them to a 2-1 aggregate success on Tuesday evening.

The visitors possibly had the better of the game, which is understandable having sustained defeat last time out and needing two goals to book their progression. Juve remained dangerous but it was their defence that saw them secure a useful result and book their place in yet another final.

Here are three things we learned from the Juventus Stadium:

Juventus now the favourites?

It’s fair to say that Juventus’ dominance of Italian football during the past decade has been built on their affection for the Coppa Italia. The Old Lady have won four out of the last six titles before this season, becoming the club with the record amount of wins in the competition’s history.

Their insatiable desire for success in the Coppa Italia is really put into context that having only reached the quarter-finals in 2018/19 season and also having been beaten by Napoli in last season’s final were seen as huge disappointments.

Andrea Pirlo’s men will be desperate to avoid that end once again this campaign having booked another final date. They will face either Napoli or Atalanta on May 19th. Juve can be booked at a price of 4/7 with 888Sport to lift their 15th Coppa Italia come the end of the campaign.

Inter failing under Conte?

Whilst Juventus have thrived in recent years, adding to their considerable trophy haul, life has been slightly different for Inter Milan under Antonio Conte.

Since the Italian’s arrival ahead of the 2019/20 season, Inter have been one of the top spenders in Europe, bringing in the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Achraf Hakimi and Christian Eriksen, amongst others. However, those big-money arrivals at the San Siro have not translated into success or silverware at the San Siro.

With another semi-final elimination in the Coppa Italia, it now means that Inter have fallen at that stage for two seasons in a row. That has been the case in other competitions, too. They reached the UEFA Europa League final last term, only to fall to perennial winners Sevilla. Their UEFA Champions League stage was also poor having finished bottom of their group.

Whilst Inter have been better under Conte in Serie A, finishing second last year and also challenging during the current campaign, they are yet to taste glory. It could be said then that Conte is failing in his job of re-establishing Inter at the top of the European and Italian game and that pressure is only going to crank up following another elimination.

Nerazzuri spurn chances to progress

Despite failing to progress to the final and sustaining another painful defeat, it was not for lack of trying for Inter, who dominated the majority of the chances throughout the game. As a matter of fact, the Nerazurri produced 21 shots throughout the 90 minutes, a huge amount.

However, the visitors simply did not do enough to trouble Gianluigi Buffon in the home goal. They only managed to get three of those on target, with Eriksen and Stefano Sensi both having efforts blocked.

Their lack of threat was highlighted by Juventus getting more shots on target despite having just 12 throughout the match. Cristiano Ronaldo forced more saves out of Samir Handanovic than Inter did for Buffon – a damning statistic.

With the visitors having both Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez on the pitch, their impotence really was a surprise, an aspect that cost them on the night.

Match Report

Juventus: Buffon (7); Sandro (6), Demiral (7), de Ligt (7), Danilo (6); Rabiot (7), Bentancur (6), Kulusevsi (7) (Chiesa (N/A), 87′); Bernardeschi (6) (McKennie (6), 63′), Cuadrado (6) (Chiellini (N/A), 81′), Ronaldo (7).

Inter Milan: Handanovic (6); de Vrij (7), Bastoni (6) (Kolarov (6), 65′), Skriniar (7); Darmian (5) (Perisic (6), 58′), Barella (6), Brozovic (6), Eriksen (6) (Sensi (5), 65′), Hakimi (6); Martinez (6), Lukaku (6).

Goals: N/A

Referee: Maurizio Mariani

Yellow Cards: Darmian (13′), Sandro (24′), Perisic (65′), Brozovic (73′)

Red Cards: N/A