Dumfries Double Sends Inter Milan to Supercoppa Italiana Final

A duo of remarkable second-half goals from Denzel Dumfries propelled Inter Milan to a 2-0 Supercoppa Italiana semi-final triumph over Atalanta, meaning the Nerazzurri will have the opportunity to become the first team to claim the trophy four times consecutively in Monday’s finale.

Although accustomed to the deafening stands of the San Siro, Inter’s athletes were clearly undisturbed by the absence of atmosphere at the venue of Al Nassr, and began their offensive from the initial whistle. In fact, a triple opportunity was squandered by Lautaro Martínez within the first minute, setting the scene for the Argentine to pepper the Atalanta net with a plethora of attempts throughout the opening half. Marco Carnesecchi was in extraordinary form, however, displaying superb reflexes to deny Martínez’s close-range shot following Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s free-kick, before frustrating him again as part of a double stop.

Although evidently not garnering much backing among the spectators in Saudi Arabia, Atalanta are a formidable force in their own right, sitting at the top of Serie A following a recent 11-match league winning streak. Their greatest opportunity of the half came when Alessandro Bastoni accidentally headed directly to Giorgio Scalvini, who couldn’t head past Yann Sommer from only a few yards away despite being entirely unmarked. La Dea gained momentum from there and were mostly untroubled before the break, aside from a couple more misfired attempts from the profligate Martínez.

Inter required someone else to emerge in front of goal, and they only needed to wait a few minutes after the restart for just that. Yann Bisseck directed a header down for Dumfries in the box, who delivered a spectacular overhead strike into Carnesecchi’s lower corner. Gian Piero Gasperini introduced the likes of Ademola Lookman and Charles De Ketelaere in a bid to react, but the relentless Dumfries had other plans on the hour mark. Medhi Taremi’s weak touch on the edge of the box unexpectedly caught the Atalanta defence off guard, allowing the ball to roll into the path of the Dutchman, who blasted in off the crossbar.

Martínez then failed to beat Carnesecchi to seal the win, and Atalanta were unfortunate not to reduce the margin when Éderson’s goal was ruled out for offside. There was ultimately no reprieve for the Supercoppa newcomers, meaning Inter surged to a fifth consecutive victory without conceding. While it’s only Atalanta’s second loss in 20 matches, La Dea are now without a win in 14 against Inter, with Simone Inzaghi’s team victorious in each of the last seven. The eight-time Supercoppa champions will now meet either AC Milan or Juventus in the final, as they seek to match the latter’s record nine titles.