AC Milan 1-1 Inter: Abraham and Calhanoglu score to set up tasty second leg | OneFootball

AC Milan and Inter will have it all to play for in the second leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final, as they drew the first instalment 1-1 at San Siro on Wednesday night.

After a goalless first half the game burst into life after the interval, with Tammy Abraham continuing his positive derby trend by turning and firing a shot inside the far corner.

That was less than two minutes into the second half, and at the midway point Hakan Calhanoglu levelled with a rocket of a shot from range that went in through a crowd.

Both sides had their chances to win it in truth but would have to shake hands and accept a draw, meaning the second leg in three weeks is very much a one-off game.

Sergio Conceicao made three changes to the starting line-up from the team that lost to Napoli on Sunday, with Malick Thiaw coming back in at centre-back, Alex Jimenez on the right wing and Rafael Leao on the left.

The opening exchanges of the game were predictably feisty, with a number of tough challenges going in which saw the likes of Leao and Bisseck take a tumble, then Thiaw absolutely cleaned out Thuram as he looked to lay off a pass.

The first attempt of the game went to the ‘away’ side on the night, and to Correa. A corner wasn’t properly cleared and fell to him on the edge of the box, though Mike Maignan got down well to thwart his low drive.

Milan spent most of the opening 15 minutes camped in their own half, waiting and hoping for turnovers in dangerous areas from Inter. The first attempt came in minute 16 with Reijnders’ cross deflecting into Theo Hernandez’s path, though he lashed well over the bar.

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Inter continued to generate the bigger threat and shortly after Theo was yellow carded for a foul on Bissek, they nearly took the lead. The free-kick was headed back across goal and almost in by De Vrij, before being thankfully cut out by Tammy Abraham.

The Rossoneri were given a decent chance to test Martinez for the first time when Reijnders was hauled down around 20 yards out. Abraham took on the set piece, but it was blocked away off his own man in the wall.

Speaking of blocks, the Nerazzurri had a heroic intervention from Martinez to thank for them not going behind. Leao got himself in isolation on the left and checked onto his left foot, yet his effort was somehow met by the boot of the goalkeeper.

Milan certainly had their moments to hurt Inter in transition, like when Leao found Theo with a lovely ball into space before the Frenchman saw his cut-back cleared. From the resulting corner, Reijnders twisted and turned on the edge of the box but his shot was charged down.

Calhanoglu lined up a free-kick 30 yards out inside the final five minutes of the first half and his knuckleball shot was dipping under the bar but for Maignan’s parry over.

Milan had a real let-off right at the end of the first half after a move down Inter’s left side saw Thuram cross for Frattesi, whose header from around eight yards out lacked the right power and direction, allowing Maignan to shuffle across and save.

That seemed to spark the game into life, with Maignan saving a curling shot well from Barella and then Acerbi getting booked (he was warming up as a substitute) after an altercation with Jimenez.

The open nature of the game continued as the sides went up and down almost like a basketball game. Calhanoglu was relieved to see his deflection from Reijnders shot fly just wide of the far post.

Midway through the second half, Inter drew themselves level and it had to be through Calhanoglu. In truth it was a nicely worked moved down the left side, with Correa laying the ball off to the Turk whose fierce low shot went through a crowd and past Maignan.

Moments after the Nerazzurri had drawn level, Conceicao made his first change of the nigh: Riccardo Sottil was the man who came off, with Jimenez making way.

With 15 minutes on the clock, a double substitution followed. Joao Felix and Santiago Gimenez were the ones who came on, with Pulisic and the goal scorer Abraham making way.

Milan were lucky to avoid going behind in the tie with 10 minutes remaining as a cross from the right side flew across the face of goal and was met at the far stick by Zalewski, whose close range attempt was kept out by Maignan.

Inter continued to create the more dangerous scoring chances, and a fingertip save from Maignan was required to stop a rising shot from Mkhitaryan after another Thuram-led break.

At the other end Milan had their glimpses too, like when Fofana led a counter-attack through the middle and fed it to Leao on the left, with his shot bending inches wide of the far post.

The final two changes came inside the final four minutes with Fofana and Leao coming off for Warren Bondo and Samuel Chukwueze.