TURIN: Football finally resumed in Italy after three months away in a surreal atmosphere asJuventus drew with 10-man AC Milan 0-0 in the semi-final, second leg on Friday to reach the Coppa Italia final.

Serie A champions Juve advanced on away goals to Wednesday’s final in Rome thanks to February’s 1-1 first-leg draw at the San Siro, despite an under-par display against a Milan side who played 74 minutes with a man less and which featured a missed Cristiano Ronaldo penalty.

It was odd and difficult at the start, playing in an empty stadium after 90 days away,” said Leonardo Bonucci to public broadcaster RAI 1. We’ve shaken off a dark moment for the whole world. I hope being back will offer the fans at home a bit of hope and joy. We want to give them something more on Wednesday.”

The two key moments happened within six seconds of each other early in the match played behind closed doors at the Allianz Stadium.

Juventus were awarded a penalty in the 16th minute after the VAR officials spotted the ball hitting Andrea Conti’s elbow but Ronaldo, whose late penalty in the first leg turned out to be decisive, slammed his effort against the foot of the post. It was the second penalty missed by the 35-year-old in two seasons at the club.

Milan cleared the ball upfield but, as they did so, forward Ante Rebic aimed a wild kick at Danilo and was sent off.

Milan, missing veteran forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic with a calf injury, held out well but rarely threatened to snatch the goal that would have taken them into the final.

They caused Juve only one real fright when Hakan Calhanoglu was close with a diving header early in the second half.

Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri said he felt his team played the best they have this season in the first 30 minutes.

“Starting again is hard and doing so without fans is an enormous difficulty,” Sarri added. “The physical condition can’t be anything but a medium-low level after a break of 70 days on the sofa, because this isn’t a summer break, it’s something much more devastating on a physical level and on a mental level. And then in moments of tiredness during the match you can’t count on the support of the fans to lift you up. But we managed to achieve our goal.”

His counterpart Stefano Poli was left to reflect on the goal they conceded at home and Rebic’s red card.

We committed the naive act of ending up with a man less. Then afterwards we had a great game and then we had chances to go ahead,” he said. The results are clear, two draws. The difference was subtle. I don’t think we played worse than our opponents in the two games.”

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2020