Inter 2-0 Atalanta: Dumfries double decides Supercoppa semi-final

Inter swept through to the Supercoppa Italiana Final thanks to a Denzel Dumfries brace, while Atalanta saw their goal ruled offside and paid the price for unorthodox choices.

The Serie A winners faced the runners-up of the Coppa Italia at the Al-Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, though a lot had changed since the Nerazzurri won 4-0 back in August. La Dea were top of the league table and saw their 11-match winning streak ended by a draw against Lazio. With Mateo Retegui, Juan Cuadrado and Gianluca Scamacca were injured, they surprisingly used Giorgio Scalvini in midfield and a whole new front three. Simone Inzaghi missed Francesco Acerbi and Benjamin Pavard.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

It was an aggressive Inter start to the Supercoppa, Marco Carnesecchi with a great reaction save to turn Lautaro Martinez’s effort over from six yards on the Hakan Calhanoglu free kick, then Yann Bisseck nodding over from the resulting corner.

Scalvini’s header was straight at Yann Sommer after a poor Alessandro Bastoni clearance, but Carnesecchi required a desperate double save on Lautaro Martinez when sent through the middle and the Federico Dimarco follow-up.

Lautaro Martinez twice mis-kicked from promising positions, but then his back-heel flick sent Dumfries through, the referee waving play on as Matteo Ruggeri leaned into the back of him from six yards. Marcus Thuram went off with a minor muscular issue.

Inter took the lead straight after the restart on a contested corner when Bisseck knocked it down for Dumfries, who controlled for an acrobatic half-volley on the turn from six yards.

Atalanta introduced their star names, but as they were pouring forward in search of an equaliser, were punished on the counter-attack. Mehdi Taremi couldn’t control the Dimarco roll across, but it kept going for Dumfries to smash first-time in off the underside of the crossbar from the edge of the area.

Isak Hien made a decisive block from six yards on Alessandro Bastoni’s finish and Bisseck nodded wide, while Carnesecchi rushed off his line to deny Lautaro Martinez one-on-one.

Atalanta thought they were back into the Supercoppa game on 72 minutes, as Carlos Augusto made a sensational block on Charles De Ketelaere from point-blank range, but Dimarco on the line couldn’t keep out the powerful Ederson follow-up. However, De Ketelaere was offside on the second attempt and the goal was disallowed by VAR.

Atalanta kept pushing, Marco Brescianini’s strike deflected over, then a triple opportunity from the resulting corner. Yann Sommer made a desperate double save on Berat Djimsiti and Ademola Lookman headers, then the two teammates both tried to prod in the third time of asking, firing over.

Inter will face either Juventus or Milan in the Supercoppa Final on Monday, January 6. They are trying to become the first club ever to win the Supercoppa Italiana for four years running.

Supercoppa Italiana semi-final

Inter 2-0 Atalanta

Dumfries 49, 61 (I)

Inter: Sommer; Bisseck, De Vrij, Bastoni (Carlos Augusto 67); Dumfries, Barella (Frattesi 81), Calhanoglu (Asllani 67), Mkhitaryan, Dimarco (Darmian 76); Thuram (Taremi 46), Lautaro Martinez

Atalanta: Carnesecchi; Kossounou (Palestra 68), Hien, Kolasinac; Zappacosta, De Roon, Scalvini (Djimsiti 62), Ruggeri (Ederson 56); Brescianini, Samardzic (De Ketelaere 56); Zaniolo (Lookman 56)

Ref: Chiffi