Coppa Italia: Perfect debut for Felix as Milan secure semifinal ticket

João Felix made his AC Milan debut with a goal as Diavolo defeated AS Roma to advance to the semifinals of the Coppa Italia.

All thanks to a Tammy Abraham brace against his former club before Joao Felix scored on an assist from fellow debutant Santiago Gimenez.

Sergio Conceicao, who recently won the Super Cup against Inter, could face the Nerazurri or Lazio in the semifinal.

The game’s first real chance came the way of the Giallorossi as Dybala’s free header from a Saelemaekers cross went straight to Mike Maignan.

However, the Argentine was the wrong person to be on the end of that situation as Milan took the lead. Mile Svilar parried a long-range Tijjani Reijnders strike, and Theo Hernandez stood up the cross on the rebound to Abraham, who hung in the air for a looping header to score against his parent club.

Roma got a chance to restore parity through a sudden Eldor Shomurodov’s snapshot which squirmed out of Maignan’s grasp to land on the roof of the net.

Fikayo Tomori failed to hit the target with a header from Christian Pulisic. Still, Niccolò Pisilli was closer to scoring when his header bounced off the top of the crossbar from Angelino’s assist.

Maignan kept Milan in the game with a low save, palming away Dybala’s drive, while Tomori made the decisive block on La Joya from another Angelino pull-back.

As Roma’s momentum increased, they were pouring forward in search of an equalizer, conceding the second. Yunus Musah won the ball in midfield, and the Theo Hernandez pass allowed Abraham to beat the offside trap. With plenty of time and space to take a touch, the Englishman won the on-rushing goalkeeper to get his brace.

Dybala again tested Maignan with a curling free kick, and the goalie pushed it out of the near-top corner.

 With a triple substitution at half-time, Roma moved to a four-man defense, and Milan continued to threaten.

 Angelino prevented an Alex Jimenez tap-in, and Kyle Walker’s header clipped the crossbar on the resulting corner.

Roma’s change paid off, and they reduced the parity. Artem Dovbyk won the ball back from Strahinja Pavlovic and then bundled it in from point-blank range at the far post on a deflected Angelino cross.

 New signings Santiago Gimenez and Joao Felix were thrown on for their Milan debuts, and they eventually combined for the third goal.

 Gimenez threaded through a smart ball for Joao Felix to spring the offside trap and keep his cool for a delicate lob over the on-rushing Svilar.

Roma thought they had scored again on 76 minutes when Reijnders anticipated Lorenzo Pellegrini to nod past Maignan, but the goal was chalked off as  Dovbyk was offside in the buildup.