Asllani's corner kick goal puts Inter into the quarterfinal of Coppa Italia

When you're brimming with confidence, as Inter was after their "six-goal show" in Rome, victories like tonight's against Udinese in the Round of 16 of the Italian Cup seem to come naturally. And that's exactly how it was. Simone Inzaghi shuffled the deck significantly against the Zebras, but it didn’t show on the pitch, as the Nerazzurri comfortably handled Udinese’s black-and-white squad with a 2-0 (2-0) victory.

Marko Arnautović scored his second goal of the season. He combined brilliantly with the selfless Mehdi Taremi on a counterattack. At just the right moment, the Iranian sent a perfect through ball into space, and Arnautović followed it up with a top-class finish. Inter didn’t expend too much energy in this match. After taking the lead, they capitalized on their momentum, applied additional pressure on the shaky team led by Kosta Runjaić, and Udinese ultimately crumbled. The visitors' defense, along with goalkeeper Edoardo Piana, made a crucial mistake during a corner by Kristjan Asllani. The Albanian delivered a tricky cross that dropped right in front of Udinese’s goal and ended up in the net, leaving the visiting keeper and defense stunned.

Runjaić tried to find a combination in the second half to create more danger for Inter's goal but was unsuccessful. On the other hand, Simone Inzaghi responded by introducing Lautaro Martínez, Denzel Dumfries, and Hakan Çalhanoğlu, ensuring a calm conclusion to the match. Inter came close to a third goal in the 77th minute, but luck wasn’t on Mehdi Taremi's side. Instead of hitting the net, his shot struck the post, leaving the score at 2-0. Inter now advances to face Lazio in the quarterfinals at the beginning of February.