MILAN, Jan 20: Inter Milan survived a scare as it beat Empoli 3-2 after extra time on Wednesday to reach the Italian Cup quarterfinals.
It appeared as if Empoli was about to pull off an upset in the round of 16 when it went ahead with Nedim Bajrami’s strike and an own-goal by home ’keeper Ionuț Radu after Alexis Sánchez’s opener for Inter.
But Andrea Ranocchia leveled in stoppage time to send the match into extra time, where Stefano Sensi scored the winner. Inter will next play either Roma or Lecce – the only team outside Serie A left in the competition.
Sassuolo reached the quarterfinals for the first time in its history with a 1-0 win over Cagliari.
It faces holder Juventus in its next match.
Abdou Harroui scored the only goal of the game in the 18th minute. It was his first goal in Italian soccer after arriving from Sparta Rotterdam in August.
Cagliari had two goals ruled out for offside. (AP)
