Milan 0-1 Udinese: Gokhan Inler Sends The Rossoneri Packing From Coppa Italia

Udinese joined Fiorentina and Roma in the last four of the Coppa Italia with a surprise 1-0 quarter-final win over Milan at San Siro.

Gokhan Inler scored the only goal of the game early in the second half, but in truth Udinese should have won far more comfortably.

Christian Abbiati made his return from injury after a long layoff in a second string Milan line-up. Gianluca Zambrotta also made his way back, while Pippo Inzaghi and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar started in attack.

Udinese fielded a strong team, with a trident frontline of Antonio Di Natale, Alexis Sanchez and Antonio Floro Flores.

The away side started the better, and Gokhan Inler threatened Abbiati on 10 minutes.

On 20 minutes Abbiati came to the rescue again, pushing the ball out for a corner from Di Natale, who had been set up perfectly by Sanchez.

It was all Udinese, and Sanchez was guilty of squandering a sensational opportunity soon after as he ran through one-on-one with the goalkeeper and fired against the post.

It took until the 27th minute for Milan to finally make an impact as Samir Handanovic saved a long shot from Marek Jankulovski. Handanovic also pushed away a Flamini effort from distance.

There was no doubting who was man of the match so far, and Abbiati twice saved Milan again within the space of a few minutes. First the Italian denied Di Natale in two attempts, then he produced a miracle to prevent Floro Flores from scoring.

Into the second half, and Milan were the first to signal their intent as Handanovic closed down Huntelaar. Davide Di Gennaro was substituted in his farewell game before joining Livorno, to be replaced by Andrea Pirlo.

On 56 minutes the deadlock was broken, and it was Udinese who silenced the San Siro. Luca Antonini made a terrible blunder, and Sanchez supplied Inler who swept diagonally past Abbiati.

Leonardo summoned Marco Borriello for Huntelaar, but on the hour mark it was almost 2-0. Floro Flores lost Bonera and shot just wide at the near post.

Udinese continued to control proceedings and Sanchez was guilty of another miss on 76 minutes when he had an open net to lob into.

The Zebrette continued to be profligate in front of goal, and Paolo Sammarco fluffed his lines after a dribble.

Udinese ran out 1-0 winners, and they will face Roma in the semi-final.