Abraham Scores Twice as AC Milan Defeats Roma to Secure Spot in Coppa Italia Semi-Finals

Goals from the on-loan pair of Tammy Abraham (27) and Joao Felix (25) secured a 3-1 victory for AC Milan at San Siro, knocking out Abraham’s parent club, AS Roma, from the Coppa Italia at the quarter-final stage. This win also marked the Rossoneri’s first appearance in the semi-finals since 2022.

Paulo Dybala had found the net in their previous encounter during December’s Serie A clash, and the Argentinian striker came close to replicating that early on, but his fierce header from a corner routine was safely saved by Mike Maignan.

Just moments later, the spotlight shifted to Roma’s loaned striker for Milan when Abraham opened the scoring. A shot from Tijjani Reijnders was deflected into the path of Theo Hernandez, whose cross was met by Abraham, who deftly headed the ball into the bottom corner.

The aerial duel continued for much of the first half, with Eldor Shomurodov and Fikayo Tomori both failing to convert their close-range attempts. Niccolo Pisilli nearly equalised after half an hour, redirecting an Angelino cross onto the crossbar.

This sparked a period of relentless pressure from Claudio Ranieri’s squad, but their search for an equaliser before the break was thwarted when Milan struck on the counter.

Once again, Hernandez played a key role, setting up Abraham, who coolly slotted in his eighth goal across all competitions, beating Mile Slivar.

Slivar made a crucial save just after the interval, tipping a header from Kyle Walker over the bar, denying the full-back his first goal in Italian football.

However, Walker’s luck took a turn shortly after; a deflection from his attempt to intercept an Angelino cross fell to Artem Dovbyk, who capitalised by tapping the ball in to cut the deficit just 10 minutes after being introduced.

Milan responded with moments that had their fans on their feet, only to see Hernandez’s free-kick sail narrowly wide and Alex Jimenez’s neat finish ruled out for offside.

But where Jimenez struggled, debutants Santiago Gimenez and Felix found success in the final 20 minutes – Felix timed his run perfectly to avoid the offside trap, receiving a through ball from Gimenez and lifting it over the advancing Slivar.

I Giallorossi thought they had narrowed the gap soon after when Reijnders inadvertently turned the ball into his own net, but VAR intervened, identifying an offside against Dovbyk in the lead-up.

With this victory, Sergio Conceicao’s side remains unbeaten in 11 consecutive home matches, nurturing hopes of claiming their second Coppa Italia title since the 1970s, while Roma’s unbeaten run in domestic competitions comes to an end at eight matches.