Inter Milan see off Juventus to win Italian Cup after penalty drama

Inter Milan claimed their eighth Italian Cup on Wednesday after overcoming old foes Juventus 4-2 in an extra-time victory full of incident and controversy. Ivan Perisic secured a thrilling win with a double in the first half of extra time, but the match hung on the awarding of a soft-seeming penalty which Hakan Calhanoglu smashed in to take the match past 90 minutes. Juve had been deservedly leading through quickfire goals from Alex Sandro and Dusan Vlahovic early in the second half and referee Paolo Valeri's decision to give the spot-kick after Lautaro Martinez fell following a slight touch from Leonardo Bonucci enraged Massimiliano Allegri's team. "I always thought we could do it, even when we were 2-1 down... We lost our heads a bit for 10 or 15 minutes but we fought back and I think that we definitely deserved to win," Perisic said to Mediaset. For Inter it is another success over Juve after another controversial win in Turin last month and beating them to the Italian Super Cup earlier in the season and is one which will boost them in their Serie A title defence. Simone Inzaghi's side trail AC Milan by two points and could hand their local rivals the Scudetto if they don't beat relegation-threatened Cagliari on Sunday. Juve meanwhile have only Champions League qualification to show for an up-and-down season, but they chose to say nothing about the penalty decision which denied them a trophy.

"Inter are fighting for the league title and we're behind them. We need to close that gap with hard work and looking to sort out the team," said Allegri. Nicolo Barella gave Inter the lead in the sixth minute with a long-range effort which would soon be forgotten amid the controversy to come. His thumping strike came after a