New coach Gennaro Gattuso on Wednesday got back-to-back wins as AC Milan booked a quarter-final clash with city rivals Inter in the Coppa Italia after a comfortable 3-0 last-16 win over AC Chievo Verona.
Gattuso earned his first win as Milan boss in Serie A action against Bologna last time out and his side put in another solid display against league strugglers Verona.
Goals from Suso, Alessio Romagnoli and Patrick Cutrone set up a Dec. 27 date with Serie A leaders Inter, who needed a 5-4 win on penalties to squeeze past Serie C side Pordenone after their tie on Tuesday ended 0-0 after extra-time.
Giacomo Bonaventura continued his fine form after his double against Bologna, playing a role in Suso’s opener on 22 minutes, and setting up Romagnoli’s second on the half-hour mark, with Cutrone heading in after 56 minutes before Bonaventura was substituted to the applause of the Milan crowd.
“What has changed with Gattuso? He gives us grit and heart — next up, the derby,” Cutrone said after Milan’s first win in their past eight Coppa Italia meetings with Verona.
Earlier, a late Jordan Veretout penalty sent ACF Fiorentina through with a 3-2 win over UC Sampdoria to set up a quarter-final with either SS Lazio or AS Cittadella on Dec. 26.
In a fiery clash in Tuscany, in which three of the goals came from spot-kicks, Khouma Babacar opened the scoring for Fiorentina after two minutes, as the hosts came out firing after their Serie A defeat to Sampdoria in September.
However, Sampdoria got back level six minutes before the break when Edgar Barreto fired in off a corner, with Veretout converting the first of his two penalties on the night after 59 minutes after the video assistant referee (VAR) was used when Babacar was brought down in the box.
An Edgar Barreto header hit the crossbar as Sampdoria pushed forward with Gianluca Caprari also hitting the woodwork, before Gaston Ramirez broke through to pull the visitors level with a penalty after being brought down by Davide Astori.
Fiorentina won a late spot-kick, again thanks to VAR, after late substitute Nicola Murru handled the ball, with Veretout making no mistake to slot in.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS