With a brace by Tammy Abraham against his former team, Milan easily defeated Roma to go to the Coppa Italia semi-final. Joao Felix then scored on a goal on his debute.
In the semi-final, Sergio Conceicao’s Milan will play against either Lazio or Inter, two of his previous teams.
Mike Maignan was the intended recipient of Dybala’s free header from a Saelemaekers cross, but he wasn’t the right guy.
Abraham lingered in the air for a looping header to open the score against his former team after Mile Svilar parried a long-range Tijjani Reijnders shot and Theo Hernandez set up the cross on the rebound.
Fikayo Tomori glanced a Christian Pulisic cross over from close range, but Niccolò Pisilli got closer when his header from Angelino’s assist bounced against the top of the crossbar. Eldor Shomurodov’s quick snapshot wiggled out of Maignan’s hands and landed on the roof of the net.
While Tomori made the crucial stop on La Joya from another Angelino pull-back, Maignan stooped to palm away the Dybala low drive.
Roma let up the second goal just as they were launching their attack. Yunus Musah won it back in midfield, and Abraham was given plenty of time and space to take a touch before beating the rushing goalie thanks to a feed from Theo Hernandez. He coldly put the ball into the net to make it 2-0.
At halftime, Roma tried to turn things around by bringing Dovbyk and Pellegrini off the bench, but the Diavolo got off to a strong start in the second half. Pulisic’s flawless cross nearly found Jimenez at the far post, but Angelino made a fantastic diving save. Kyle Walker’s header from the ensuing corner was then pushed onto the bar.
Roma cut the deficit in half just eight minutes into the second half, and Dovbyk was the one who did it. The Ukrainian at the far post touched in from close range after Angelino’s left-winged cross-shot deflected off Walker and went through a throng.
Conceicao made his first substitutions of the game just before the hour mark, and two January additions made their Milan debuts. Joao Felix replaced Pulisic, and Santiago Gimenez replaced Abraham.
Within 14 minutes, Gimenez had threaded a clever ball for Joao Felix to slip the offside trap and maintain composure for a lovely lob over the charging Svilar, making it the ideal debut.
On minute 76, Reijnders thought Lorenzo Pellegrini would nod past Maignan to put Roma in the net, but Dovbyk was offside throughout the build-up.
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