AS Roma retained the Italian Cup after a 2-1 victory over Champions Inter Milan at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday to gain revenge for their defeat in the Serie A title race.
Goals from French center-back Philippe Mexes and Italy midfielder Simone Perrotta sealed a ninth cup success, making them the most successful team in Italian cup history, alongside Juventus.
Inter substitute Vitor Pele scored a goal that even his more illustrious namesake — the Brazilian legend who won three World Cups — would have been proud of with a stunning 30m volley into the top corner that left Roma’s Brazilian goalkeeper Doni rooted to the spot.
PHOTO: EPA
The two sides have contested the last four cup finals and Roma squared the recent mini-series following Inter’s victories in 2005 and 2006.
Despite missing the game injured, Roma club captain Francesco Totti went up to receive the silverware from Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.
Roma were clearly the more hyped of the teams from the off as they looked to make up for last weekend’s Scudetto disappointment.
Inter had the first shot on target through midfielder Dejan Stankovic but most of the action happened at the other end of the field.
French winger Ludovic Giuly was wildly off target when well placed and Perrotta had a shot blocked by center-back Cristian Chivu.
But Roma took the lead on 35 minutes through a clever corner routine that caught Inter napping. Chile midfielder David Pizarro crossed to the near post and Mexes timed his run perfectly before flicking the ball into the roof of the net.
At this point Inter — who were being cheered on by just a few thousand of their fans, leaving an entire end almost empty in the stadium — seemed barely interested. And they fell two behind just after the restart as Perrotta ran at the heart of a defense that was backing off and played a one-two with Montenegro striker Mirko Vucinic before slotting into an empty goal with Inter’s veteran goalkeeper Francesco Toldo drawn out of position.
Inter were furious as they thought midfielder Cesar had been fouled in the build up. That finally sparked them into life and Portuguese midfielder Pele’s thunderbolt got them right back in the match.
Inter almost equalized moments later but Nicolas Burdisso’s header came back off the post.
Inter threw everything but the kitchen sink at Roma after that but created nothing to suggest they might score.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite