AP, Rome :
AC Milan’s unbeaten streak in all competitions reached 13 matches with a 5-4 penalty shootout victory over Lazio on Wednesday to advance to the Italian Cup final against Juventus.
After Lazio’s Luiz Felipe Ramos placed his penalty attempt high over the bar, Milan center back Alessio Romagnoli – who grew up as a Lazio fan – calmly drilled his decisive shot into the left corner to seal the win.
The game ended 0-0 after extra time, following a scoreless first leg as well.
Earlier, Juventus beat visiting Atalanta 1-0 to advance 2-0 on aggregate.
It was Milan’s second win in four days at the Stadio Olimpico after beating Roma 2-0 in Serie A on Sunday.
Up next for Gennaro Gattuso’s squad: the Milan derby then a Europa League quarterfinal against Arsenal.
Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and Lazio counterpart Thomas Strakosha each made two saves early in the shootout.
Earlier in the match, the 19-year-old Donnarumma showed his lack of experience when he miscalculated a long ball and let Ciro Immobile run onto it inside the area. The Lazio striker pulled the ball back from the endline and nearly scored from an almost impossible angle.
Otherwise, Donnarumma was on form, leaping to turn away a header from Immobile early on then blocking another effort from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
Strakosha also had a strong performance, denying a splendid effort from Suso in the first half.
Milan striker Nikola Kalinic wasted a golden chance to finish off a swift counterattack in the second period of extra time.
“Lazio is a very strong team. It’s no wonder that they’ve scored so many goals against everyone this season,” Gattuso said. “We could have conceded a goal but we could have also scored.”
Miralem Pjanic scored a controversial penalty as Juventus reached its fourth straight final.
It appeared that Juventus midfielder Blaise Matuidi was only slightly touched from behind by Gianluca Mancini while attempting to meet a cross in the 74th.
