Milan late show sees off Lyon

Tuesday, 04, Apr 2006 10:09

Late goals from Filippo Inzaghi and Andriy Shevchenko helped AC Milan beat Lyon 3-1 in the San Siro to advance to the Champions League semi-finals.

The result was hard luck on the French side, who dominated for long spells of the game and were two minutes away from going through on the away goals rule.

However, Inzaghi's second goal of the night on 89 minutes and Shevchenko's injury-time clincher sent the Italians into the last four.

After a 0-0 draw in the first leg, both sides seemed cautious in the opening 15 minutes and Inzaghi's dragged shot was the only chance for either side.

However, Lyon should have scored in a frantic five minutes which saw them create two good chances.

First, Alessandro Nesta's back-pass hit a bobble in front of Milan goalkeeper Dida and the ball nearly fell for Sylvain Wiltord but he eventually blazed the ball wide on the turn.

Then on 15 minutes, Brazilian striker Fred was laid in and while Dida smothered the through-ball, the ball fell to Florent Malouda and he lobbed his shot over the bar.

The French side were punished on 24 minutes, however, as Serginho was unleashed on the left-wing and his cross was headed home by Inzaghi from eight yards.

Milan were ahead for just six minutes though as slack marking from Juninho's free-kick saw the ball break inside the six-yard box and Mahamadou Diarra scored.

Lyon continued to dominate and Fred hit the post with a header six minutes before half-time.

The second-half continued in the same vein and it looked as if the Italians were going out until a minute before time.

A long ball found Shevchenko at the back post and while Gregory Coupet got a hand to his low shot, it hit both posts and Inzaghi was on hand to poke the ball home from close range.

The Ukrainian striker had been virtually anonymous for 90 minutes but was on hand in the third minute of injury-time to seal the win, capitalising on a poor back-pass to round Coupet and score his 52nd Champions League goal.