The miraculous Mota saves four penalties and takes Lazio to the final: Marušić chases a second trophy, nothing of the first for Krstović

The sky-blue part of Rome gained an unexpected hero - young goalkeeper Edoardo Mota, who stepped in after Ivan Provedel was injured, led Lazio to the final of the Italian Cup.

The goalkeeper, who arrived from Reggana in January, saved four penalties in the penalty shootout against Atalanta and set up the grand finale at the Olympic Stadium in Rome against Inter.

After a 2-2 draw in the Italian capital, the match was also tied in Bergamo (1-1), so the finalist was decided in penalty shootout, where Motta "saved" shots from Gianluca Scamacca, Davide Zappacosta, Mario Pašalić and Charles de Quetelare.

It was a clash between two Montenegrins - Adam Marušić (played until the 67th minute) was better than Nikola Krstović, so he will fight for his second Cup trophy after celebrating with the same club in 2019.

On the other hand, Krstović played a good match, assisting Atalanta's equalizing goal, but he was not lucky enough to play in his first final in Italy and fight for his first trophy.

Krstović had a good chance in the second half, after the hour mark, and assisted Emerson's goal, but referee Andrea Colombo, after a VAR review, assessed that our player reached the ball while it was in Mota's hands. It seems a questionable decision.

His assist, however, came when it was perhaps more important - in the 86th minute, just 120 seconds after Lazio's 1-0 goal by Alessio Romagnoli. With his back to goal, Krstović blocked the ball brilliantly, passing it to Pašalić, who made no mistake.

After that, he was replaced by Skamaka, and there were no more goals until the end of the 120th minute.

In the penalty shootout, Giacomo Raspadori was the only one to score for the home team, while Gustav Isaksen and Kenneth Taylor were the heroes along with Motta, the only safe players in the Lazio team - Nuno Tavares and Danilo Cataldi missed the penalty.

The Cup final will be played on May 13th in Rome - Lazio will be fighting for their eighth trophy of this competition (last won in 2019), and Inter for their 10th (last won in 2023).