Relentless Milan stride on

AC Milan hung on to beat AC Perugia 2-1 in their Italian Cup semi-final second leg last night and take their place in May's final against AS Roma or S.S. Lazio.

Nesta confident
After the first leg in Perugia finished 0-0, goals from Jon Dahl Tomasson and Alessandro Nesta were enough to secure Milan's place in the two-legged final, although a goal six minutes from time by Perugia's Andrea Caracciolo gave Carlo Ancelotti's side a late scare. "It's a long season," said Nesta. "We are in the cup final now, the quarter-finals of the [UEFA] Champions League and we are still in the hunt for the title. We want to go all the way."

Fine header
Danish international Tomasson put Milan ahead five minutes before the break with a close-range effort after a Cristian Brocchi shot hit Nesta and fell kindly to the former Feyenoord forward. Seven minutes after the restart Nesta headed in Milan's second, rising well to meet a cross from Portuguese midfield player Rui Costa.

Late drama
In a game played in front of a crowd of just 9,665 at the 80,000-capacity San Siro, Milan looked to have comfortably booked their place in the final, but in the end they were fortunate to maintain their lead. Substitute Caracciolo pulled a goal back in the 84th minute when he met a cross from Brazilian Zé Maria and in added time Fabrizio Miccoli struck the bar with a fierce free-kick.

'Centimetres away'
An equaliser would have been enough to put Perugia through on the away goals rule and it almost came when their Australian goalkeeper, Zelico Kalac, who had pushed upfield, put the ball wide with two team-mates waiting to pounce behind him. Perugia coach Serse Cosmi was left to rue that miss, saying: "In the end we were two centimetres away from the cup final." Roma lead Lazio 2-1 ahead of their second leg today.