A fierce battle between Milan and Inter to make up for the league's stumbling block ... Know its timing
The two Lombard poles face Milan and Inter on Tuesday (23:45 UAE time) in the quarter-finals of the Italian Cup in football, looking to compensate for their recent failure in the domestic league, where the ancient Juventus tightened the screws on them in the lead.
Milan, the league leaders, suffered a humiliating loss at home to Atalanta 0-3 last Saturday, and Inter did not benefit by a negative draw with Udinese, who is threatened with relegation, so the difference remained two points between the two arch neighbors.
The Swedish giants Zlatan Ibrahimovic's top scorer at Milan and the Belgian Romelu Lukaku failed to score at the end of the week, but the competitors for the top scorer in the league are hoping to tip the scales for their teams in the second meeting between the poles this season, after the first in October, when Zlatan led his double Milan. To a 2-1 victory in a match in which Lukaku also scored for the loser.
Zlatan, 39, returned to Milan this month after a seven-week absence due to injury, scoring a brace against Cagliari, raising his score to 12 goals in "Serie A", and is looking forward to his first goal in the Cup competition this season.
On the other hand, Lukaku scored in extra time against Fiorentina in the Round of 16, but the Belgian international was unable to score in the last four matches of the league.
Inter are counting on domestic success after their half-nostalgic elimination from the Champions League.
"Winning the Scudetto (the League) and qualifying for the Champions League will be important for Inter, but the Coppa Italia is a competition we respect," said his coach, Antonio Conte.
"We will not underestimate it and we will try to win, as we always do."
Inter's last title goes back to 2011 in the domestic cup competition, while Milan, the last time champions in 2011, has not tasted the taste of being crowned the cup since 2003.
If it is overtaken by the powerful Inter, five-time cup holders Milan will get rid of a strong opponent and make up for a lapse Bitter atalanta.
His coach, Stefano Pioli, said, "The derby in the Coppa Italia might lead us to the semi-finals, but at the same time this is an opportunity to turn the page and avoid a difficult moral jolt.
Title holders Napoli are looking to continue their campaign on Thursday when they meet Spezia, who ousted Roma from the previous round.
The stubborn coach Gennaro Gattuso's side fell in the Super Cup match against Juventus last week and then suffered a bitter defeat by Verona 1-3 in the league on Sunday.
As for Juventus, who have been crowned four times in the last six editions of the Cup, SPAL meets the only steadfast second-division team.
And Atalanta, fourth in the league standings and singing about their only big title in the 1963 Cup competition, hosts Lazio Roma, holders of the 2019 edition, knowing that the two sides meet again in the league at the end of the week.
The winner of the quarter-finals will qualify for the semi-finals, which will be held on a home-and-away system on February 3 and 10, while the final match will be held on May 19.
Juventus holds the record for the number of coronations (13, most recently in 2018), followed by Roma with nine titles, Inter and Lazio with seven, Fiorentina and Napoli with six.
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