Rafael Leao signed, as he usually does, his favorite smiley face-a little man sitting on a surfboard. I didn’t give an interview after the Milan – Internazionale match, so we had to settle for a two-word post on social networks, not so much a comment as an atmosphere:”Waves of Derby”.
Perhaps it was the perfect synopsis of a ruthless and violent dramatic game. The night when the two halves of the city took turns riding on mountain ridges, and then went under the water again, carried away by the irresistible tides that did not allow anyone to stop to catch their breath.
It was on account of a little less than 21 minutes, Marcelo Brozovic brought Inter ahead, pointed Milan to high pressure. Fikayo Tomori and Pierre Kalulu chased Joaquin Correa and Lautaro Martinez high up the pitch, but the Englishman missed when the Argentines exchanged passes. There was no one left to fill the remaining space, as Brozovic won one step on his scoreboard from Charles De Keteler and rushed to score.
Seven minutes later, Milan equalized. Sandro Tonali pounced on Hakan Kalhanoglu’s careless pass and attacked the penalty area, resulting in Stefan De Vrij finding himself in a difficult position when he dropped Leao, whom he threw from the left flank. The Portuguese was the first to hit the gate.
We were just getting started. Milan and Inter have 37 shots each – the most this match has seen in 13 years.
Stefano Pioli said before the start of the draw that whoever wins the individual matches will win the match. He sent his team to prove it: Milan played against Inter from you to you all over the pitch. His aggressiveness threatened to escalate into moments, and Theo Hernandez was lucky not to see a second yellow card until the end, but Milan rewarded him for his efforts. Tonali intercepted passes in midfield twice more, each time making immediate attacks.
Inter had a more patient plan, they were sitting at a low level, trying to lure their opponents forward and make room for quick breaks. The plan worked perfectly for Brozovic’s goal, but in the second half it was undermined by the weakness of his defense.
Milan’s ultras have prepared a new song this season, distributing One Goal to Giroud in the February derby with the chorus “If girato Giroud” – “Giroud is next.” By the next meeting, they may have to adapt it to “Giroux”. The striker dodged his points on Saturday by staying exactly where he was.
Lean received a flank pass from the left side of the penalty area and sent the ball into the far corner of Giroud in the corner of the penalty area from six yards. Inexplicably, the Inter defenders stepped aside, leaving the Frenchman a place to play on the flank of the house.
Milan’s third goal was something else. A long ball from the left found Giroud, who beat it off Leao with a volley from the heel. Scoring from here didn’t seem easy: there were still two defenders in front of him on the edge of the penalty area. But Leao is not an ordinary football player.
Like a surfer pumping up a wave, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other and accelerated, causing Devries and Bastoni to drown in his path. He lost his balance at the end, exposing his legs when falling to his left, but by that time the ball had already been sent to the far corner of the goal. 3: 1 Milan.
It was a blow worthy of a derby decision, but this derby was not from the category of settlements. Inter sent Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Edin Dzeko and Federico Dimarco. Within a few minutes, the first of these players exchanged a one-two with Matteo Darmian on the left. The Italian threw the ball low into the six-meter zone, and Dzeko volleyed it away from the near post.
Milan goalkeeper Mike Meignan became the hero of the hour, blocking Martinez’s header at point-blank range and delivering a crushing blow to Calhanoglu over the crossbar. Milan held off Pobe with a score of 3: 2.
For Milan, it was the most historic project: for the first time in 11 years, he held the routes over his neighbors in Serie A. On a permanent basis, the Saws presented a reporter: “Never call our team young again… Now we are angry, self-confident.” However, they were by far the smallest country in this derby, with only three countries over the age of 25. Inter had one player, Alessandro Bastoni, younger than that age. What does it say about the long trials of the peredzurri that their lifting power in the game led to 36-year-old Jack, who at the end put his hand to all his basic capabilities?
Moreover, how concerned should Simone Inzaghi be about the fact that his team has conceded eight goals in five matches? The Inter coach has struggled to convince his bosses not to sell any of his first defenders this summer as Paris Saint-Germain beat Denzel Dumfries and Milan Skriniar. The club was convinced that these were important components of a potential title bid.
Can a change of goalkeeper improve prospects? Samir Handanovic was not the main culprit of any of Inter’s goals, but his performance this season seems bleak. Andre Onana arrived on a free transfer from Ajax in the summer. This result will only increase the pressure on Inzaghi to give him his debut.
What about the manager’s involvement in all this? Inzaghi blamed individual mistakes for the defeat, and we must remember that he was left without this summer’s main striker Romelu Lukaku. But what did he do to adapt his team after seeing Pioli’s deliberate choice to overload the left flank, pushing Tonali out of midfield to join Hernandez and Lean? It is no coincidence that all three goals of Milan fell on this side.
