AC Milan defeated Sassuolo 2-1 at the San Siro on Tuesday evening to secure progression to Coppa Italia quarter finals.
Giampaolo Pazzini opened the scoring for the home team with an acrobatic finish in the first half. The away team scored a second half equaliser from Nicola Sansone’s penalty, only for Nigel De Jong to score in the dying minutes and secure the win for Milan.
With both teams refusing to sit back the match got off to a frantic start and the first chance fell to the home team. A fine solo run by Stephan El Shaarawy resulted in the ball breaking to Alessio Cerci who played in the on-rushing Poli, only for the midfielder to blaze it over from inside the box.
Milan grew in stature as the match went on, particularly looking dangerous down the flanks. Ignazio Abate played Cerci in behind the defence with a lofted ball and the newly acquired forward unleashed a volley from close range that drew out a good reflex save from Alberto Pomini.
The Neroverdi seemed content to sit back and spring quick counter attacks. A sweeping counter attack saw the ball laid out to Sime Vrsaljko on the right-hand side. The right-back whipped in a near-post delivery for Leonardo Pavoletti, but the forward could not direct his effort on target .
A neatly worked move from Milan saw Giacomo Bonaventura put Pazzini through on goal, but the striker dragged his first time shot wide. Moments later Pazzini made up for his mistake, picked out by a cross from Cerci, he acrobatically volleyed the ball beyond Pomini to put Milan 1-0 ahead.
Cerci almost doubled the lead a few minutes later latching on to cross ahead of the defender but only to see his finish crash against the bottom of the far post.
Sassuolo had the ball in the back of the net from the last kick of the first half, only for it to be correctly ruled out for offside. Vrsaljko who headed in the ball was on the wrong side of his marker when the free kick was delivered.
The second half started with the away side coming much faster out of the blocks. The Rossoneri remained firm in defence and looked threatening on the break. A flowing counter attack saw a rampant Abate deliver an inch perfect cross for Pazzini. The striker’s point blank header drew out an instinctive save from Pomini and kept the scores at 1-0.
With both sides struggling to convert their chances, the referee completely changed the game’s complexion by awarding Sassuolo a penalty after a coming together between Zapata and Pavoletti. Nicola Sansone dispatched the resultant penalty to make it 1-1.
After the equaliser, goal scoring opportunities came at a premium. When the game seemed to be heading for a stalemate, a training ground corner routine in the dying minutes had Poli ghosting in behind Sassuolo’s defence and smacking a volley against the bar, Nigel De Jong pounced on the rebound and scored the goal to make it 2-1.
Sassuolo threw on Simone Zaza, Domenico Berardi and Antonio Floro Flores in the search for the equaliser but Milan held on for the win and progression, where they will face either Torino or Lazio.
