February 10, (THEWILL) – Milan cruised into the Coppa Italia semi-finals with a 4-0 victory over Lazio, with Olivier Giroud scoring twice as the former Chelsea forward continued his fine vein of form.
With all 10 of his goals coming in the San Siro, the France international has now reached double figures for the season.
Rafael Leao had opened the scoring for the Rossoneri in the 24th minute, before Giroud scored twice in short succession just before the interval, and Franck Kessie completed the rout 11 minutes from time.
Milan had only won once in their previous nine Coppa Italia meetings with Lazio, and had failed to score in the last five, but that streak came to an end midway through the first half.
From a tight angle, Leao sprinted onto Alessio Romagnoli’s well-timed throughball before calmly tapping past Pepe Reina, a former Rossoneri goalkeeper.
Four minutes before the break, the Portugal international turned provider, squaring for Giroud to complete a swift Milan counter.
On the stroke of half-time, Giroud, who scored a match-winning brace against Inter on Saturday, was similarly in the correct place, ripping away at the far post to turn home Theo Hernandez’s low cross.
Lazio came into San Siro with a four-match unbeaten streak dating back to their last visit to Milan, when they were defeated 2-1 by Inter.
Ciro Immobile, the talisman who had been involved in five goals in as many games versus Milan, hobbled off hurt midway through the second half, making things worse for them.
In the 79th minute, the hosts added the icing to the cake when a deep free-kick into the box was cleared only as far as Kessie, who hammered past Reina for a sad end to the tie for Maurizio Sarri and his charges.
The reward for the result for Stefano Pioli’s side will be a mouth-watering meeting with Inter in the last four next month.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
