The muzzle is short or notthree points in a derby is fine and proper. The first Madonnina derby of the season smiled on Massimiliano Allegri’s eleven who, despite spending most of the match defending, managed to beat Inter thanks to another goal lightning fast counterattack from the Rossoneri. In fact, the winning goal came in the 53rd minute when Fofana’s pass released Saelemaekers’ run: Sommer turned away the Belgian’s right-footed shot but at Pulisic’s feetwho is not wrong.
The real hero of this derby was Mike Maignan: after many important saves, the transalpine guard surpassed himself saved a penalty defeated by former Calhanoglu. Inter continued to attack until the final whistle, but in a somewhat confusing manner, always breaking Milan’s careful defence. The one smiling was Rome, who still remained first solo in the standings while Allegri’s eleven players overtook Inter and Napoli in second place.
Maignan was monumental, Inter had more control of the ball
Recalling Roma’s win in Cremona, Cristian Chivu’s Inter squad will attend the Madonnina derby with the clear aim of taking home the full title and taking the Giallorossi to the top of the table. The Nerazzurri started the match very aggressively, forcing Milan to defend from the first minute: when Thuram met Dimarco’s cross, Maignan made a sensational save, taking the ball in from the bottom corner to prevent Inter going straight ahead. The Rossoneri, however, appeared to be at the mercy of their cousins, who, for at least the first quarter of an hour, seemed capable of doing what they wanted on the pitch. Some controversy in the 12th minute when a pinpoint tackle from Tomori brought down the fast-moving Sucic in the penalty area: there was no doubt for Mr. Sozza, full ball, no penalty. Five minutes later the Croatian player was still looking for a goal from distance with a left foot counter kick, but the ball almost flew over the crossbar. On the reverse kick, a good team effort from Milan with Bartesaghi taking advantage of a gap in defense to try with his left foot: the ball goes wide but in reality looks more like a pass to Pulisic, who misses the winning deflection. After a completely forgettable start, Allegri’s squad looked increasingly confident in their abilities and ready to capitalize on any possible distractions from Inter’s defence.
Midway through the first half, maximum balance prevailed at the Meazza, with both teams responding attack after attack and appearing evenly matched on the pitch in almost all areas. The hosts almost went ahead when Acerbi headed the ball well from a corner: but the ball hit the near post squarely, forgiving a frightened Maignan. The good moment for eleven Chivu players continued when Calhanoglu’s shot from outside the penalty box on Thuram’s side whistled not far from the goal post to the right of the Rossoneri goal. Although the goal had not yet arrived, the match was intense and played at a good tempo: Maignan, who loudly protested to the referee for Acerbi’s overly firm intervention, insisted that the stakes were high. The Transalpine goalkeeper was forced to make another decisive intervention when Lautaro Martinez directed Thuram’s pass towards goal: his shot was fouled enough to hit the post, denying Toro a goal. Now it seemed that only Inter were on the pitch, the Rossoneri were unable to leave their defensive area unless they were unprepared, such as a counter-attack in the 41st minute which ended with a very high kick from Saelemaekers. A curling shot from the returning Pulisic was much more dangerous and, after a one-two with Rabiot, ended up going wide despite being quite a distance away.
Pulisic opens it, Maignan saves it all
There were no changes during the break and the match continued to follow the flow of the first half: Inter were more agile and controlled the ball, Milan were very solid in defense and always dangerous on the counter-attack. The first buzzer of the second half for Marcus Thuram who, after a very long action from the home side, tried a curling shot: the execution was correctable and the ball ended easily between Maignan’s gloves. A few minutes later, Allegri’s eleven found the lead with a deadly counter-attack: Fofana grabbed the ball, stepped up and fed Saelemaekers, who crossed with his right foot from outside the box. Sommer got there but his clearance wasn’t perfect, as it landed right at the feet of Christian Pulisic, who tucked the ball into the bottom of the bag to make it 1-0 to Milan. Inter were forced to raise their center of gravity, leaving room for a counter-attack from Allegri’s eleven: Leao was unstoppable on the left and played the ball in the middle for Pulisic, who was however able to anticipate before being able to fire home from a good recovery by Bastoni. The Nerazzurri had no choice but to attack with their heads down but their efforts always seemed to fail against Milan’s meticulous defence. Whenever Leao found space to unleash his pace, there was trouble for the home side, who attacked with good intent but little clarity.
Chivu decided to make a change in the 66th minute, recalling the blurry Lautaro Martinez to the bench to give Bonny almost half an hour. Paradoxically, despite the pressure from Inter, it was Max Allegri’s men who were the most dangerous: first it took a timely intervention from Akanji to prevent Leao heading home to make it 2-0, then Sommer had to thwart Fofana’s shot from a tight angle. The crucial moment of the match came in the 71st minute, when VAR called the referee to the monitor to review Pavlovic’s kick on Thuram after the Frenchman had provided a cross. Mr Sozza deemed the Serbian’s intervention “unwise” and conceded a penalty kick: from eleven meters former Rossoneri Calhanoglu appeared but this time the Turkish marksman was hypnotized by Maignan, who made a brilliant save, repeating the feat performed against Roma. At this point Inter had no choice but to lay siege to the Rossoneri goal: in the 78th minute Chivu replaced Calha for Zielinski while Allegri replaced Fofana and Pulisic with Ricci and Nkunku. Three minutes later, from another corner for Inter, Acerbi fired a fine shot at Akanji but the Swiss couldn’t get the ball into the pocket. Milan gave too much space to the Nerazzurri, who in the 89th minute saw Diouf play a good ball into Bonny’s feet, but it was wasted.
Scoreboard
INTER (3-5-2) – Summer; Bastoni, Acerbi (86′ Diouf), Akanji; Dimarco, Sucic, Calhanoglu (78′ Zielinski), Barella (86′ Pio Esposito), Carlos Augusto; Thuram, Martinez (66′ Bonny). Coach: Christian Chivu
MILAN (3-5-2) – Maignan; Pavlovic, Gabbia, Tomori; Bartesaghi, Rabiot, Modric, Fofana (79′ Ricci), Saelemakers; Leao (86′ Loftus-Cheek), Pulisic (79′ Nkunku). Coach: Maximilian Spirit
Marker: 53′ Pulisic (L)
Be warned: 45+1′ Leao (M), 61′ Calhanoglu (I), 71′ Pavlovic (M)
Expelled:-
Referee: Simone Sozza (Seregno)
