Romelu Lukaku moved to 33 goals for the season as Inter Milan progressed to UEFA Europa League final with a 5-0 thrashing of Shakhtar Donetsk.
UEFA Europa League Semi-Final
Result: Inter Milan 5-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
Date: 17 August 2020
Venue: Merkur Spiel-Arena
Inter kept the same side that edged Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 in the quarter-finals as Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez led the front line while Shakhtar were boosted by the return from suspension of centre-back Davit Khocholava.
The sides were cautious in the early exchanges but Antonio Conte's troops quickly got into another gear in the 18th minute as Martinez fired them ahead with a glancing header from Nicolo Barella's inch-perfect cross on the right wing.
The Italian side were sitting deep and fashioning chances on the break towards the half-hour mark but they were not clinical enough in the last third.
Shakhtar came close to levelling matters two minutes before the break after Marcos Antonio carved some space on the edge of the box to release a strike but his looping effort missed a little over the bar and Inter went to the break with their 1-0 lead.
Conte's men had a quick start in the second stanza and they came close to doubling their lead three minutes from the break after Martinez won the ball high up the pitch and went clear on goal but his attempted lob over goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov was heroically parried away by the Ukrainian, who was way off his line.
The game was opening up after that and Luis Castro's charges had a wonderful chance to equalise on the hour-mark after Moraes got a free header from a cross inside the six-yard box but his effort was saved by shot-stopper Samir Handanovic.
Shakhtar were punished for not taking their chances as three minutes later Danilo D'Ambrosio made it 2-0 for Inter with a looping header at the back post from a corner by Marcelo Brozovic.
Martinez put the game to bed for the Italian side with 16 minutes remaining after finding a pocket of space on the edge of the box and curled home a low strike beyond Pyatov to complete his brace in the process.
Lukaku also got on the scoresheet for Inter in the last 12 minutes with a low finish from a diagonal angle inside the box after he was teed up by Martinez, while the Belgian got his second and Inter's fifth on 83 minutes with a composed finish from close-range,
Conte's troops will now lock horns with five-time winners Sevilla in Friday's final.
