Gennaro Gattuso will have the chance to get his hands on some silverware this season after AC Milan beat Lazio on penalties to secure their place in the Coppa Italia final.
Juventus await them there after overcoming Atalanta in the earlier game and this was another close affair with 210 minutes of football unable to separate them or produce a goal until the eventual spot-kick win, with Gianluigi Donnarumma saving two penalties and Biancocelesti fan Alessio Romagnoli dumping his boyhood club out of the competition.
Despite Milan coming off the back of an impressive win at the Stadio Olimpico against the Aquile’s city rivals just three days previously, they started sluggishly and Donnarumma was called upon to tip over an early Ciro Immobile header.
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic then came within millimetres of punishing a slack cross-field pass from Ricardo Rodriguez but saw his effort end up on the wrong side of the post.
Chances were few and far between for the Diavolo in the opening half, their best coming from a Suso strike from range and a lazy Thomas Strakosha punch, which came off the back of Martin Caceres’ head and fortunately rebounded to safety.
Immobile ended the half with two more chances, firstly taking advantage of worryingly lax goalkeeping from Donnarumma, who attempted to shepherd the ball over the line and had his pocket picked, only for the striker to miss the target, before saving from the ex-Torino man moments later.
Milan did improve in the second half and the first real chance came their way when Davide Calabria, who netted in the win over Roma, drilled a low strike on goal which Strakosha managed to divert away.
That was largely as good as it got in terms of real chances for the second half, with clear cut opportunities at a premium, particularly as the game wore on and both sides became aware of the magnitude of the slightest slip, resulting in the inevitability of extra time.
In the additional 30 minutes, Hakan Calhanoglu had a free-kick comfortably saved by Strakosha and Nikola Kalinic incredibly blazed over when one-one-one before the whistle blew for the final time to signal a shootout.
Both goalkeepers shone, despite having some easy penalties to keep out, by denying four takers between them and after it eventually went to sudden death, Luis Felipe blasted over the top before Romagnoli kept his cool to send Strakosha the wrong way and his side through.
