Coppa Italia Final | Milan 0-1 Bologna: Ndoye ends 51-year trophy wait | OneFootball

Bologna have beaten Milan to win their third Coppa Italia trophy, after 1970 and 1974, thanks to a Dan Ndoye strike in the Final.

The Rossoneri last won this trophy in 2003, while it was the Rossoblu’s first Final in 51 years, but it was also precious for guaranteeing Europa League qualification.

Santiago Castro, Ndoye and Emil Holm returned to the starting XI, with Giovanni Fabbian preferred to Jens Odgaard, leaving Martin Erlic and Estanis Pedrola on the treatment table. Youssouf Fofana and Rafael Leao were back in the line-up, with only Riccardo Sottil and Warren Bondo injured for the showdown on neutral turf at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Bizarrely, these teams already met last Friday in Serie A, Milan emerging 3-1 winners at San Siro.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

ROME, ITALY – MAY 14: General view inside the stadium as fans of Bologna display a tifo prior to the Coppa Italia Final match between AC Milan and Bologna at Stadio Olimpico on May 14, 2025 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Marco Rosi/Getty Images)

Within three minutes, Rafael Leao had turned Jhon Lucumi inside out to pull back from the by-line, but Alex Jimenez could only fire over from six yards under pressure.

Mike Maignan came flying off his line to smother at the feet of Riccardo Orsolini, despite the very tight offside call, while Maignan got down to palm the Castro glancing header off the line.

ROME, ITALY – MAY 14: Matteo Gabbia of AC Milan wins a header during the Coppa Italia Final match between AC Milan and Bologna at Stadio Olimpico on May 14, 2025 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images)

Lukasz Skorupski needed sensational reactions to parry both the deflected Alex Jimenez cross off Sam Beukema and the Luka Jovic rebound from point-blank range.

Maignan smothered a Holm header on a corner and Milan immediately countered, Lewis Ferguson booked for bringing down Rafael Leao, getting his nose accidentally smashed in the process. Moments later, the Rossoneri were furious when they felt Ferguson should’ve received a second yellow card for his coming together with Christian Pulisic, but the decision went against them, and the American was booked instead for dissent.

epa12100691 Milan’s Strahinja Pavlovic (L) in action during the Italian Cup final soccer match between AC Milan and Bologna FC in Rome, Italy, 14 May 2025. EPA-EFE/Riccardo Antimiani

After the restart, Leao squirmed away from Holm to roll across for Jovic, intercepted crucially by Lucumi, but it was Bologna who took the lead.

Orsolini sprung the offside trap on a through ball and was tackled by Theo Hernandez, but it fell to Ndoye who managed to control and smash into the net from 11 yards to open the scoring.

When these teams faced off in Serie A on Friday, Bologna had also taken the lead, only for Milan to turn it around after moving to a four-man defence. Sergio Conceicao made similar changes here, introducing Santiago Gimenez, Kyle Walker and Joao Felix.

Fofana surged forward only to over-hit the pass for Jovic, who hit the side-netting, while Joao Felix horribly scuffed his finish on the Tijjani Reijnders pull-back, then Santiago Gimenez did the same on the Theo Hernandez assist.

Ndoye drilled wide from a promising position, but Milan didn’t do enough to get back into the game and continue their record of being the club with the most Coppa Italia runner-up medals, this being their ninth out of 14 attempts.

Milan 0-1 Bologna

Ndoye 53 (B)