AC Milan made their first Coppa Italia semi-final in four years on Wednesday night. Their 2-1 victory over Carpi—the Serie A debutants who held them to a goalless draw in the league a little more than a month ago—had several effects.
The first, obviously, is the trip to the semis, which is their first since Juventus eliminatead them at that stage in 2011-12. The second was the salvation—for now at least—of coach Sinisa Mihajlovic, who has been under intense pressure and would almost certainly have been dismissed had the result gone the other way or even if the win had been a sloppy one.