Holders Juventus suffered an almighty scare on their way to a second successive Coppa Italia final, dominating Inter in a penalty shootout after Roberto Mancini’s men won 3-0 on the night to level their semi-final tie.
Juventus are now to meet AC Milan in the May 21 final at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.
With a 3-0 cushion from the first leg, Juve coach Massimiliano Allegr rested goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and striker Mario Mandzukic, while Giorgio Chiellini, Claudio Marchisio and Martin Caceres were all injured.
Photo: EPA
Under the cosh following a string of poor results, Mancini cracked the whip and the Nerazzurri responded in style to take a 2-0 lead by the 49th minute thanks to Marcelo Brozovic and Ivan Perisic.
When Brozovic hit his second from the spot eight minutes from time after a dubious penalty decision, the tie was forced to extra time.
After two thrilling, but goalless, periods, Rodrigo Palacio’s miss from the spot made the difference as Juve stayed on track for a second consecutive double.
Defender Leonardo Bonucci scored Juve’s fifth and final spot-kick to start the celebrations, although he is to miss the final due to suspension after earning a caution on the night.
Inter threatened from the outset, Perisic drilling just wide of Norberto Neto’s upright, but the hosts were rewarded for their efforts on 17 minutes when Slovenian midfielder Brozovic fired past Neto after Gary Medel had bundled Hernanes off the ball.
Juve looked out of sorts and another error, this time from Daniele Rugani, allowed Adem Ljajic to unleash a curling shot that bounced off the top of the bar.
Ljajic then fired inches wide of the near post to give Juve plenty of reason for reflection at the interval. Inter resumed in similar fashion and after just four minutes, Eder burst down the right to fire a perfect delivery for Perisic, who tapped the ball past Neto at the back post.
Juve upped their game, with striker Simone Zaza powering through the middle and rounding Inter goalkeeper Juan Carrizo, only to hit the upright.
From the corner, Inter launched a counterattack that saw Ljajic’s angled drive shave the far post.
An increasingly worried Allegri switched to a three-man defense when he replaced Stephan Lichsteiner with Andrea Barzagli, but the referee pointed to the spot after Rugani was ruled to have fouled Perisic in the area, despite first making contact with the ball.
Neto was unlucky as Brozovic’s spot-kick squirmed under him to level the tie 3-3 on aggregate, but the goalkeeper then produced a great reflex save in the final minute of regulation time to parry Perisic’s first-timer from close-range. Moments later Perisic earned a yellow card after he got up from a rash tackle on Juan Cuadrado to take the Colombian by the throat.
Both sides created chances in extra time, Neto palming Perisic’s free header over the bar and Zaza firing an angled drive just past the far post.
In the dying seconds, Carrizo produced two quickfire saves from Alvaro Morata, including a superb one-handed effort from the Spaniard’s right-footed curler, to force the tie to penalties.
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