Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty miss did not prove costly for Juventus as they played out a 0-0 draw against Ac Milan as football returned to Italy on Friday evening.
Despite playing close to 75 minutes with a man down, The resolve of the Milan defence proved to be a tough nut to crack for the Italian Champions but the draw was just enough to ensure that Juventus qualified for the final.
The two teams played out a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the semi-final at San Siro in February but had to wait four months for the return match at the Allianz Stadium due to the suspension of the competition on the back of the Coronavirus Pandemic since March.
Before kickoff, a minute silence was observed for those who died from Covid-19 and this was immediately followed up by a round of applause for the nation’s health workers.
Ronaldo failed to score from the spot kick after a VAR review which confirmed that Andrea Conti handled the ball in the area in the 16th minute. 17 seconds later, Ante Rebic was sent off for a lounge on Danilo but Juventus fail to take advantage of their strength in number.
Donnarumma was also tested by an effort from Blaise Matuidi in the 31st minute and he was also equal to Ronaldo’s attempt. Milan failed to test. Buffon had a quiet evening for the most part of the match despite Milan’s several forays forward. Milan threw caution to the wind despite their numerical disadvantage but had nothing to show for it in the end.
Hakan Calhanoglu could only divert his header wide three minutes after the restart before Rafael Leao came on for Giamoco Bonaventura to fill the void that Ante Rebic had left.
Fatigue in both teams was obvious despite being allowed to make five substitutions and the much anticipated contest ended in a full draw.
Juventus will lock horns with Napoli or Inter in the final while Milan will turn their attentions to Lecce on Monday night as they resume their Serie A campaign.
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