Coppa Italia, Inter beat AC Milan in quarter-final: Records broken
AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent off before Inter earned a dramatic victory (2-1) in a fiery Coppa Italia quarter-final on Tuesday. Substitute Christian Eriksen's stoppage-time free-kick helped Inter book a spot in the semi-final. Notably, Inter made the most of the extra man as Ibrahimovic received a red card in the second half. Here are the records broken.
How did the match pan out?
Ibrahimovic drew first blood for Milan as he fired a goal in the 31st minute. However, the highlight was his clash with Inter's Romelu Lukaku. The former was then sent off in the second half, owing to his tackle on Aleksandar Kolarov. Making the most of it, Lukaku converted a penalty in the 71st minute. In the stoppage-time, Eriksen scored the winner for Inter.
First red card for Ibrahimovic in Europe since March 2015
Ibrahimovic received his first red card in a game played in Europe since March 2015 (Chelsea vs PSG). Notably, he scored his eighth goal in seven appearances for Milan against Inter across all competitions. In fact, he is the only AC Milan player to have scored at least one goal in all three competitions this season (UEFA Europa League, Serie A and Coppa Italia).
Lukaku has been acing penalties of late
Lukaku is one of the three players in the top five European leagues (after Lewandowski and Oyarzabal) to convert every penalty he has taken across all competitions since 2019/20, among the players who have 12+ penalties.
Eriksen scored a historic free kick for Inter
It is interesting to note that Inter Milan scored their first goal from a direct free-kick shot for the first time since April 2018 (Cancelo vs Cagliari). Before Eriksen's strike against AC Milan, Inter took 55 free-kick shots without scoring. The 28-year-old came off the bench late in the second half and fired his first goal of the season.
