HT: Cruz surprises Roma Wednesday 3 May, 2006
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Roma are dominating the Coppa Italia Final at the Olimpico, but it’s Inter who lead at half-time thanks to a Julio Ricardo Cruz goal.
This was effectively a replay of the 2005 Final, where Inter emerged the victors 3-0 on aggregate, and both teams fielded a strong line-up in their only remaining bid for silverware this season in front of 70,000 fans.
Roberto Mancini returned to the classic 4-4-2 with Julio Ricardo Cruz partnering Adriano for this first leg tie, while Roma chose Houssine Kharja for a more creative midfield in support of the forwards.
More importantly, Francesco Totti was on the bench for the first time since undergoing surgery for a fractured ankle on February 19 and Italy Coach Marcello Lippi was in the stands.
The Giallorossi had a good early chance when Rodrigo Taddei dispossessed Javier Zanetti, but the final pass to a totally unmarked Amantino Mancini was intercepted by goalkeeper Julio Cesar.
Moments later, Inter took the lead with Cruz. The Roma defence was caught by surprise and stopped, assuming the Argentine was offside, but play continued on Adriano’s pass and he slid the ball past Alexander Doni.
Replays show it was a very tight decision, but Cruz was kept in an offside position by ex-Inter man Christian Panucci and the goal stood at the Olimpico.
Cruz had another good chance soon after, but he was penalised for a foul on goalkeeper Doni as they went for the lifted pass.
Daniele De Rossi’s looping header was off target, then an acrobatic Ivan Cordoba intervention stopped Mancini in his tracks, Simone Perrotta’s piledriver was charged down and a hopeful Kharja effort from distance swung wide.
Kharja and De Rossi combined delightfully, but there wasn’t enough support for the Italian midfielder once he broke into the area.
Roma were taking control and Inter focused on the counter-attack, but a perfectly-timed Philippe Mexes challenge cut Adriano off.
De Rossi was in fine form and almost scored a magnificent goal, as his chipped cross-shot was slapped out of the top corner by Julio Cesar at full stretch.
As the first half wore on, Inter were compressed into their own half and couldn’t seem to emerge under constant pressure from a busy Roma side.
The tension spilled out on 40 minutes when Inter took a corner kick, as Leandro Cufre fell under an apparent punch to the back of the head from Cordoba. The referee did not witness the incident, but Roma’s players were furious that no action was taken. Taddei took ‘revenge’ with a tackle from behind on Cordoba and was booked, ruling him out of the second leg at San Siro.
Inter came out of their shell on the stroke of half-time and Doni flew to palm a fierce Dejan Stankovic free kick over the bar.
Cruz also had an opportunity to make it 2-0 on Luis Figo's searching pass, but Doni was able to close down thanks to the Argentine's poor first touch.
