Juventus vs Inter Milan: Coppa Italia Final Preview

The Derby d’Italia has come thick and fast this season. First came a 1-1 draw in the league decided by a late penalty, before an even later Alexis Sanchez goal decided the Super Coppa in extra time, and most recently a laborious 1-0 win for the good guys at the Allianz Stadium. And now, for the first time since 2016 and third of this millennium, a fourth and final derby of the season is upon us. And once more it’s over a trophy - the Coppa Italia.

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Since that narrow victory at the Allianz stadium, inter has revived its title hopes and now sits a close second behind Milan with two games to go. With the Scudetto race going down to the wire, it’s hard to shift our attention away from the fight for the championship. With a crucial visit to relegation-threatened Cagliari looming this weekend, Simone Inzaghi will have his hands full balancing the competitions.

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As for Juventus, the bianconeri have lagged slightly since the loss to Inter. Its faint Scudetto hopes have vanished and it hasn’t won a single game by a multi-goal margin in Serie A (though it did beat Fiorentina 2-0 to advance to the Coppa final), scoring eight and conceding six over five games. Juve did manage to clinch a top-four spot, but a listless home draw to Bologna and a 2-1 defeat at Genoa last Friday show that all is not well in Turin. Nonetheless, there’s no doubt that Juventus has the firepower to cause Inter problems Wednesday. Paulo Dybala (15g, 6a), Alvaro Morata (11g, 2a), Juan Cuadrado (5g, 4a), and Dusan Vlahovic (7g, 1a) should all be ready from the start and have a history against the Nerazzurri. Vlahovic in particular is worth keeping an eye on; he’s struggled to fully adapt to Allegri Ball and has just one shot in his last two games, while his goals per minute have fallen off compared to his time at Fiorentina. So in other words, expect a break-out performance from the Serbian because that’s how these things work. We can’t talk about the derby d’Italia without mentioning Dybala, who’s heavily rumored to be switching black and white stripes for black and blue this summer.

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Previous Results

Juve leads the all-time record 107W/57T/67L across 231 meetings but Inter is unbeaten in the last four Serie A meetings, including a 1-0 win in Turin in early April.

• 1-1 (H), 24/10/21
• 2-1 (H), 12/1/22 (Super Coppa)
• 0-1 (A), 2/4/22

Predicted Starting XIs

Prediction: Juventus 1-2 Inter Milan

Vlahovic will break his slump but goals from Lautaro and Barella will give Inter its first Coppa Italia of the Simone Inzaghi era.

Forza Inter!