Coppa Italia | Atalanta 1-1 Lazio (3-3 agg, 1-2 pens): Motta heroic to book special Final
Edoardo Motta was the hero for Lazio, saving four penalties in a row during the shoot-out to eliminate Atalanta and book their Coppa Italia Final ticket to face Inter on May 13.
The first leg ended 2-2 in Rome on March 4, so it was all to play for in Bergamo with the potential for extra time and penalties. La Dea missed Isak Hien, while the Biancocelesti were without Nicolò Rovella, Ivan Provedel, Samuel Gigot and Alessio Furlanetto, but welcomed back Adam Marusic after a surprise 2-0 Serie A win over Napoli at the weekend.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Mario Gila sprinted back for a decisive sliding tackle on Nikola Krstovic, while Nicola Zalewski only grazed his head to a Charles De Ketelaere cross from six yards.
Gila was also decisive when throwing himself in the way to deflect the Zalewski volley wide of the near post from six yards, but after a strong start, Atalanta’s domination petered out towards the end of the first half.
After the restart, Edoardo Motta’s gloves were stung by Krstovic, who had completed a give and go with De Ketelaere, but Lorenzo Bernasconi went off with a knee injury after a Patric sliding tackle.
Tijjani Noslin’s effort from the edge of the area was charged down, but Atalanta had the ball in the net at the end of a truly chaotic move.
Gila seemed to charge down the De Ketelaere cross with his hand, but as the move continued, Krstovic poked the ball out from under Motta’s glove, and Ederson fired in the rebound. VAR took a long time to evaluate all the incidents, the referee viewed them all, and decided Gila had kicked the ball onto his own arm, but that Krstovic had fouled the goalkeeper, disallowing the goal.
Lazio had appeals too when Scalvini kicked a ball onto his own arm under pressure from Noslin, but it was a similar situation to Gila, so the striker kept going and fired wide from a promising position.
Mario Gila went off with an ankle sprain, while De Ketelaere’s hard and low effort was smothered, while Mario Pasalic made a decisive block on Noslin.
Lazio took the lead from the resulting Zaccagni corner, Alessio Romagnoli holding off Berat Djimsiti to volley in from four yards at the back post with the inside of the left foot.
Lazio lead against Atalanta!
Alessio Romagnoli with the goal which could send his boyhood club through to the Coppa Italia final
pic.twitter.com/AIzhekoQLo
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) April 22, 2026
Just like in the first leg, Atalanta gave an immediate response, and within two minutes had equalised. Krstovic with his back to goal laid it off for Pasalic from the edge of the area, his wayward shot deflected into the far bottom corner by Kenneth Taylor to wrong-foot Motta.
Atalanta strike back almost immediately!
It's all level again as Mario Pašalić scores just 30 seconds after the restart
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— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) April 22, 2026
It remained wide open, Ederson flashing a cross-shot past everyone, and deep into stoppages Motta made a sensational fingertip save to push the Gianluca Scamacca header onto the top of the upright from close range.
They could not be divided, so at 3-3 on aggregate, the tie went to extra time.
Atalanta thought they had taken the lead for the first time in the whole tie on 96 minutes when De Ketelaere floated a cross to the far post and Zappacosta nodded it back for Giacomo Raspadori’s header from close range. However, VAR showed Zappacosta was offside on the assist.
Both teams were allowed a sixth substitution during extra time, Pasalic wasted a promising situation with a shot deflected off teammate Raspadori, and Scamacca nodded wide as Atalanta pinned Lazio back into their own half.
When the Aquile did go forward, they threatened, as Romagnoli was millimetres away from getting his head to the taut Nuno Tavares free kick.
They went to a penalty shoot-out and Nuno Tavares had the first Lazio attempt parried by Marco Carnesecchi, but Edoardo Motta did the same to Scamacca.
Danilo Cataldi fired his onto the upright and Motta saved from Zappacosta, so Gustav Isaksen was able to finally equalise.
Motta incredibly saved four penalties in a row to become the absolute hero of this fixture.
Atalanta 1-1 Lazio aet (3-3 agg, 1-2 pens)
Romagnoli 84 (L), Pasalic 86 (A)
Penalties: Raspadori (A, goal), Nuno Tavares (L, saved), Scamacca (A, saved), Cataldi (L, missed), Zappacosta (A, saved), Isaksen (L, goal), Pasalic (A, saved), Taylor (L, goal), De Ketelaere (A, saved)
Player statistic
| Sead Kolasinac | 31' | |||
| 37' | Matteo Cancellieri |
| 84' | Alessio Romagnoli (Assist: Mattia Zaccagni) | |||
| Mario Pasalic (Assist: Nikola Krstovic) |
 |
86' |
| Gianluca Scamacca | 117' | |||
| 120' |  |
Manuel Lazzari |
