Coppa Italia: Inter Milan 2 Genoa 1

Inter progressed to the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia after easing past Genoa at the Giuseppe Meazza on Thursday.

Claudio Ranieri’s Inter never came close to hitting top form against the Serie A rivals but still managed to make it seven successive victories in all competitions, thanks to a stunning early strike from Maicon and a fine volleyed finish from Andrea Poli.

Valter Birsa’s injury-time goal proving nothing more than a consolation strike for Genoa.

Coming four days after the Milan derby and with both sides having made a raft of changes to their respective line-ups, the game began in a predictably subdued and low-key fashion.

But Maicon punctuated the early tedium with a goal of the utmost quality on nine minutes.

The Brazilian full-back found the top-left corner of the Genoa goal with an unstoppable 30-yard drive with the outside of his right foot – a strike made all the more remarkable for the staggeringly low back-lift with which it had been executed.

Both sides would have been hard pressed to produce a comparable moment of skill during the remainder of the match, but what followed was desperately disappointing nonetheless.

Genoa played some tidy football at times but never threatened the Inter goal, while the hosts struggled to hold on to the ball for any great period of time, with Wesley Sneijder surprisingly wasteful in possession.

The Netherlands international did produce Inter’s only other shot of note during the opening 45 minutes, which Cristiano Lupatelli got down well to parry away to safety.

Sneijder squandered several other promising openings with either poor control or decision-making.

Luckily for Sneijder, Poli proved far more clinical when he was presented with a chance to double Inter’s advantage.

The on-loan Sampdoria midfielder volleyed into the bottom corner four minutes into the second half, after a terrific one-two on the edge of the area with Joel Obi.

Sneijder began to look more like his old self as the game wore on and he curled a shot narrowly wide after turning Alberto Marchiori on the edge of the area and slipping the ball through the legs of Mario Sampirisi.

Genoa had shown little attacking threat up until that point, with Argentine Lucas Pratto wasting their best opening just after the break when he fluffed his header after being picked out by Birsa.

The visitors made things ever so slightly interesting when Birsa fired home in the second minute of added time after Pratto had headed against the bar, but they had left it too late to prevent Inter from setting up an intriguing quarter-final clash with Napoli on Wednesday.