MILANEWS: Juventus X Milan

An extra time goal from Mirko Vucinic was enough to take Juventus through to the Coppa Italia final, in a pulsating 2-2 draw at Juventus Arena on Tuesday.

An earlier Alessandro Del Piero goal had looked like taking the Turin giants through, but that was cancelled out in the second half by goals from Djamel Mesbah and Maxi Lopez. Vucinic was there though, in extra time, to score a sumptuous goal, that gave the Old Lady a 4-3 aggregate win.

After the first leg at San Siro was won 2-1 by Juventus back in February, the Bianconeri were holding all the cards going into this game, but it was the Rossoneri who started the brighter of the two sides.

Milan were completely dominating possession, and perhaps should have made Antonio Conte's side pay on 20 minutes. Ibrahimovic turned past Andrea Pirlo on the edge of the Juventus area, and, opening up his body, caressed a shot at goal, only to see Marco Storari push it wide of his left-hand post.

Seedorf had a long-range effort that just whiskered over the bar midway through the half, but on 27 minutes, Milan were cursing their wastefulness as the hosts' opening the scoring.

A superb run from Stephan Lichtsteiner down the right-hand side culminated in a low cross towards Del Piero, who flicked the ball over the on-rushing Marco Amelia, and coolly tapped it into the net.

Milan were still dominating the play – ending the half with just under 60% of the possession – but it was Juve who had the best chance just before the break. Mirko Vucinic was played through by Arturo Vidal, but delayed his cross for too long, and the eventual ball to Emanuele Giaccherini was slightly too high as he headed wide.

The sides returned for the second period, and almost immediately, a deep cross from Philippe Mexes alluded all the Juventus defenders inside the area and reached the far post, where Mesbah was there to finish brilliantly with a diving header into the top right-hand corner of the net.

With the scoreline on the night level, the wind was really in the Rossoneri's sails, and they perhaps should have added a second goal just 15 minutes later. A deep cross from the right by Luca Antonini found Sulley Muntari at the back post, but he couldn't quite bundle the ball home after pressure from Leonardo Bonucci.

The wave-after-wave of Milan attacks eventually paid dividends though on 81 minutes.Lopez received the ball just outside the area, turned Chiellini, and smashed it into the top right-hand corner past Storari.

The Juventus substitute, and former Milan striker, Marco Borriello, had the best opportunity to avoid extra time just moments later. Played through by Giaccherini, the Italian striker was in one-on-one, but he could only hit his effort straight at Amelia, and with that, the teams went into extra time.

Extra time begun with exactly the same frenetic tempo as the game itself, and within minutes, Juventus had two great chances to score. Firstly, a cross from the left found Borriello, but he could only fire straight at the keeper. And secondly, Vucinic played Giaccherini clean through on goal, but the youngster, deciding to go round Amelia, had the ball taken from under his feet by the Italian.

But midway through the first half though, and all that was forgotten as Vucinic struck an absolutely beautiful effort from 30 yards, right into the top right-hand corner of the net, to give the Bianconeri a 4-3 aggregate lead going into half time.

The second period quickly turned into a scrappy midfield battle, with lots of late, niggling challenges. And despite a late charge from Milan, the referee blew for full time to take Juventus through to their first cup final since 2004.