Denzel Dumfries struck twice inside 13 second-half minutes as Inter Milan ended Atalanta’s 16-match unbeaten run against Italian opponents to reach the 2024 Supercoppa Italiana final at Riyadh’s Al-Awwal Park.
After Dumfries’ acrobatic close-range volley opened the scoring in the 49th minute at the home of six-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr, the wideman added a spectacular second by curling a first-time strike in off the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area.
What a sweet strike that is! 💥
Denzel Dumfries at the double for Inter! 🔵⚫ pic.twitter.com/yq4sdeR1S2
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) January 2, 2025
Atalanta thought they had pulled one back through Ederson’s finish 18 minutes from time, only for a lengthy Video Assistant Referee check to disallow the goal for what appeared to be an offside decision against Charles De Ketelaere.
Inter will face Juventus or Milan, who meet in the second semi-final at the same stadium on Friday (7pm GMT), in Monday’s final at the Kingdom Arena in the Saudi Arabian capital.
Denzel Dumfries delivers with an acrobatic effort from close range! 🙌
Inter take the lead against Atalanta in the Supercoppa Semi-Final 🔵⚫ pic.twitter.com/lv3EgirJtY
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) January 2, 2025
📰 Table Of Contents
Inter vs Atalanta
A remarkable stretch of 12 straight domestic wins had taken Atalanta to the top of Serie A and the Coppa Italia quarter-finals before they secured a late draw at Lazio in the league on Saturday. and manager Gian Piero Gasperini might have had reason to fear their run had ended at the wrong time when
La Dea had not beaten Inter in more than six years and had lost the previous six encounters between the teams, making it perhaps unsurprising when the reigning Italian champions had the better of the chances during the first half.
✈️🇳🇱🖤💙#ForzaInter #InterAtalanta pic.twitter.com/1b8OyOrG9p
— Inter ⭐⭐ (@Inter) January 2, 2025
Goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi rescued them with two splendid early saves from Lautaro Martinez, one of which would have resulted in a Federico Dimarco goal from a rebound had Carnesecchi not produced another stop.
Inter’s first goal came after a corner was questionably adjudged to have been deflected behind, and there was less doubt about their second when Dumfries drilled in a scorching strike in the culmination of a counter-attack.
A special clean sheet for Yann 🤩🧤#ForzaInter #InterAtalanta pic.twitter.com/bK5NktxrA1
— Inter ⭐⭐ (@Inter_en) January 2, 2025
Carnesecchi again thwarted Martinez in a one-on-one with the score at 2-0, although Atalanta went tantalisingly close to replying with a minute remaining when Yann Sommer parried headers by Berat Djimsiti and Ademola Lookman in quick succession.
Both players looked poised to score from the second rebound but conspired to send the ball over the crossbar and all-but end Atalanta’s slim hopes of a comeback during added time.
MVP 🏅🖤💙#ForzaInter #InterAtalanta pic.twitter.com/nfpt29GRil
— Inter ⭐⭐ (@Inter_en) January 2, 2025
Supercoppa final
Eight-time champions Inter have won the last three editions of the Supercoppa and will enter the final with five consecutive clean sheets behind them.
They are yet to beat either of their potential opponents in the final this season, losing 2-1 to Milan in September and drawing 4-4 with Juve in October.
