AC Milan claim spot in Coppa Italia semis
Milan (Italy): Patrick Cutrone's overtime goal gave AC Milan a 1-0 victory over Inter Milan in the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia.
It was the ninth goal of the season for the 19-year-old Cutrone, the club's leading scorer, while Suso Fernandez Saez picked up his eight assist of the campaign here on Wednesday, reports Efe.
The derby win in front of 50,000 at the San Siro was a much-needed boost for AC Milan, who sit 11th in the Serie A table, 16 points behind third-place Inter.
Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso said beforehand that his side were treating the match like a World Cup final.
The Rossoneri generated the first scoring a chance, a Giacomo Bonaventura header in the 18th minute that Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic stopped.
Inter thought they had taken the lead in the 24th minute when Milan keeper Antonio Donnarumma - playing in lieu of injured brother Gianluigi - mishandled a shot by Ivan Perisic and the ball landed in the net.
But after consulting the video replay, the referee disallowed the goal for an offside infraction.
The sides traded chances in the second half. Joao Mario kicked the ball straight at Donnarumma after taking a perfect cross from Mauro Icardi, while Milan's Giacomo Bonaventura fired over the cross-fire after a poor clearance by Handanovic.
Milan racheted up the pressure in the final minutes of regulation and carried that intensity over into extra time.
In the 105th minute Suso beat defender Yuto Nagatomo and delivered a perfect ball to Cutrone in the area.
AC Milan will face Lazio, the winners on Tuesday over Fiorentina, in a two-leg semifinal.
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HP Cong Minority Morcha delegation meets with party leader Venugopal over mosque row
Shimla (PTI): A delegation of the Himachal Congress Minority Morcha apprised the party's central leaders on Thursday of the atmosphere of fear created in the state by targeting a particular community and staging demonstrations near mosques.
The delegation led by Iqbal Mohammad, president of the state Congress Minority Morcha, also comprised imams of various mosques. It met with Congress general secretary K C Venugopal and its Minority Morcha national president Imran Pratapgarhi in New Delhi.
In a statement here, the state Congress Minority Morcha said the situation has become tense due to demonstrations by Hindu outfits in front of mosques and efforts were being made to vitiate the atmosphere and instill fear among Muslims.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is trying to take people of all religions along but some elements are trying to spoil the atmosphere and malign the government, it added.
According to the statement, Venugopal spoke to the chief minister over the phone over the issue.
Ten people were injured during a protest demanding the demolition of a portion of a mosque in Shimla's Sanjauli area last week. In Mandi, police used water cannons on protestors demanding the demolition of an unauthorised portion of a mosque in the town.
On Tuesday, residents of Kasumpti in Shimla submitted a memorandum to demolish a mosque in the area and similar demands are also coming in from Sunni and other areas in the state.
A dispute between a barber from the minority community and a local businessman in the Malyana area in the suburbs of Shimla on August 30 turned into a communal issue with Hindu groups demanding the demolition of unauthorised mosques and residents calling for the identification and verification of outsiders coming in the state.
