Ante Rebic did his best Nigel de Jong impersonation, sending his cleat into the chest of Danilo immediately following a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty miss. The red card helped Juventus secure a 0-0 draw in the second leg of the Coppa Italia on Friday at Allianz Stadium. The first leg was a 1-1 draw back on Feb. 13 at the San Siro, allowing Juventus to advance on away goals in the first match in Italy in three months.
Juventus advanced to the final of the Coppa Italia, which will be June 17 at Stadio Olimpico in Rome. The Old Lady will face either Napoli or Inter Milan, who play Saturday.
Back in early March, the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinal was postponed 24 hours before it was scheduled to take place due to the coronavirus. Since, all major football in Europe came to a halt, only returning in the last few weeks, first in Germany and earlier this week in Spain.
Three months later, the series concluded with the nil-nil draw, which was highlighted by Rebic’s crunching kick on Danilo early in the match.
The main moment arrived about 12 minutes in, when a hand ball in the box awarded Juventus a penalty kick. Ronaldo’s effort caromed off the post — Gianluigi Donnarumma may have gotten a hand to it — and play continued until Rebic lunged at the ball with his cleats chest high. While Rebic may or may not have known Danilo was in front of him, when the Croatian’s boot made contact with the Brazilian’s chest, there could only be one outcome. The referee initially grabbed for his yellow card, but after taking some advice from his fellow officials decided to pull out his red card.
Within moments, Milan went from the joy of watching Ronaldo miss a penalty to the horror of facing the remaining 75 minutes a man down.
A WILD turn of events in the Coppa Italia!
- Cristiano Ronaldo misses a penalty
- Ante Rebic is sent offWatch on ESPN+ https://t.co/tBc4gLrRC4 pic.twitter.com/G8gmSp9mkh
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) June 12, 2020
The red card was eerily reminiscent of Nigel de Jong’s flying kick on Xabi Alonso in the 2010 World Cup final, which is 29 days shy of its 10-year anniversary. Rebic appeared to have a little less malice in his challenge, but the main difference was that de Jong was not sent off for his indiscretion. (Volume warning for the below video.)
Despite the man advantage, Milan held firm defensively, denying Juventus a goal. However, after a 1-1 draw in the first leg, the Bianconeri were comfortable with their away-goals advantage. Milan rarely threatened and Ronaldo was not punished for his penalty miss.
Serie A will return to play on June 20.
