Zlatan Ibrahimovic of AC Milan was sent off before forgotten man Christian Eriksen fired a dramatic late winner to win Internazionale a 2-1 victory in fiery Coppa Italia quarterfinal at San Siro.
The evergreen Zlatan superbly fired home in the 31st minute to give Milan the lead. Ibrahimovic’s match began in usually clinical fashion in front of goal which his eighth goal in all competitions for Milan against Inter in seven appearances. Ibrahimovic was booked for a clash with Inter’s Romelu Lukaku as the first half came to a close. Former teammates at Manchester United continued their argument at halftime down the tunnel.
After the break, both seemed to have settled down, but Ibrahimovic picked up his second yellow on a trip to Aleksandar Kolarov. And in the 58th minute, he was sent off. Lukaku fired a 71st-minute penalty into the net off the underside of the crossbar to equalize, as Inter took advantage of the extra man. Inter bombed the Milan goal, but could not find a winner until Eriksen stepped up with a stop-time free-kick.
The goal books his side a semi-final confrontation with either Juventus or SPAL, who play on Wednesday. Since, he left Tottenham Hotspur for Milan almost a year ago to the day, with the Dane having started just four league games this season. Things have not gone to plan for Eriksen, leading to rumors that he could return to England this January. Late on, the 28-year-old came off the bench and showed that he scored curling a spectacular free-kick into the net in the 97th minute, for his first.
On 43 points, Milan is top of the Serie A standings, two ahead of rivals Inter, with both looking to end the nine-year title-winning streak of Juventus.
