Inter cruise past Genoa
Inter Milan rung the changes but still proved too strong for a virtual Genoa reserve team as the holders won 2-1 in the Italian Cup on Thursday.
Maicon scored a stunning opener and Andrea Poli finished off a clever move to give the nerazzurri a date away to Napoli in the quarterfinals.
Valter Birsa netted in injury time for Genoa but it was too little, too late for a side that never really got going.
Coach Claudio Ranieri wasted little time musing over the win, turning his attention to league matters this weekend.
"It was a good game, I'm satisfied but now we start thinking about Lazio," he said.
"The players are proud and want to do everything well. That makes everything easier.
"We have to keep doing what we're doing, we host Lazio on Sunday and they're doing well in the league, as are we.
"They've earned more points away than at home, it's a game that will give us important answers."
Ranieri gave the night off to the likes of goalkeeper Julio Cesar, centre-backs Lucio and Walter Samuel and strikers Diego Milito and Giampaolo Pazzini but Genoa went even further by dropping almost their entire first team.
It meant there was never much doubt who would prevail at the San Siro and the suspense was practically ended after just nine minutes.
Brazilian full-back Maicon set his sights from 25 yards and with no back-lift managed to somehow fire a rocket into the top corner, giving Cristiano Lupatelli no chance.
That was the only dangerous situation in a first half Inter strolled through and five minutes after the break they put the game to bed.
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