Goals from two loaned players, Tammy Abraham and João Félix, secured a 3-1 victory for AC Milan at San Siro, eliminating Abraham’s parent club, AS Roma, from the Coppa Italia quarter-finals and securing the Rossoneri a spot in the semi-finals for the first time since 2022.
Paulo Dybala was the one who scored when these two teams met in their Serie A clash in December, and the Argentine nearly repeated that success within 10 minutes, but his powerful header from a corner went straight into the hands of Mike Maignan.
A few minutes later, attention turned to Roma’s on-loan striker playing for the home team, as Abraham scored the opening goal for Milan. A shot from Tijjani Reijnders was deflected toward Theo Hernández, whose cross found the Englishman, who directed the ball into the bottom corner with a header.
The aerial battle continued throughout the first half—Eldor Shomurodov and Fikayo Tomori failed to keep their headers down from close range, while Niccolò Pisilli deflected an Angeliño cross onto the crossbar after 30 minutes.
This marked a period of pressure for Claudio Ranieri’s side, but their efforts to find an equalizer before halftime were thwarted when Milan caught them on the counterattack.
Once again, Hernández provided the assist for Abraham, who netted his eighth goal across all competitions past Mile Slivar.
Slivar made a crucial save early in the second half
Unfortunately for Walker, just minutes later, his deflection on an Angeliño pass fell into the path of Artem Dovbyk, who struck the ball home to narrow the deficit 10 minutes after coming on.
In response, Milan created two chances that excited their fans but ended in frustration—Hernández’s handball meant his strike didn’t count, and Álex Jiménez had a legitimate goal disallowed for offside.
However, where Jiménez failed, debutants Santiago Giménez and Félix succeeded in the final 20 minutes—Félix timed his run perfectly to stay onside after receiving a pass from Giménez and delicately lifted the ball over Slivar, who rushed out to intervene.
Il Giallorossi thought they had reduced the deficit to just one goal minutes later when Reijnders turned the ball into his own net, but VAR came to his rescue, ruling Dovbyk offside in the build-up.
A 11th consecutive home match without defeat for Sérgio Conceição’s side keeps Milan’s Coppa Italia title hopes alive for their second trophy in the competition since the 1970s, while also ending Roma’s eight-match unbeaten streak in domestic competitions.
