Tijjani Reijnders of AC Milan

AC Milan 1-1 Inter: De Vrij’s late equaliser means derby spoils are shared

AC Milan were forced to settle for a point in the Derby della Madonnina against Inter, conceding a late equaliser in a 1-1.

Milan went into the break a goal ahead thanks to Tijjani Reijnders’ finish after Yann Sommer parried Rafael Leao’s cross, and they managed to hold it for a long time despite wave after wave of pressure from Inter.

In the 93rd minute, the Nerazzurri did get the equalising goal with Stefan De Vrij firing in after a cross was chested down to him around six yards out, and that would be the way that the score ended.

It means lost ground on Fiorentina and Juventus who each won earlier today, but in truth it was probably a fair result at the end of the proceedings, if not slightly fortuitous.

Sergio Conceicao made three changes to the starting line-up from the team that lost to Dinamo Zagreb in midweek, with Kyle Walker making his debut at right-back, Ismael Bennacer coming into the midfield and Tammy Abraham as the centre-forward.

Inter started the game much brighter and had the ball in the back of the net inside seven minutes as Lautaro squared for Dimarco to tap into an unguarded goal. However, the striker had strayed well offside before the pass, so it was rightly called off.

Mike Maignan was called into action for the first time a few minutes later, with some nice link-up play inside the Milan box ending with Lautaro laying it off to Barella whose shot was grasped by the Frenchman relatively easy.

In truth it was quite a scrappy opening to the game with both sides struggling to find much end product. Rafael Leao went down inside the box under a challenge from Pavard, appealing for a penalty, yet the offside flag went up as he had strayed a few yards and the Frenchman also got the ball.

The Nerazzurri continued to have the better of the opportunities, and Lautaro perhaps should have done better when Thuram did well to shrug off pressure from Tomori and cut back to the Argentine, who skied his effort.

Up the other end, Sommer was forced into his first stop when Tijjani Reijnders let fly with a rising shot that was heading for the top corner at the near post, but was parried over in the end.

In the one added minute at the end of the first half, Milan took the lead thanks to Reijnders’ 11th goal of the season. A quick counter-attack saw the ball carried forward by Theo Hernandez and fed to Leao, whose square ball was parried to the feet of the Dutchman and the finish was applied emphatically.

Conceicao made a change at the break with Ismael Bennacer making way for Jimenez, and Yunus Musah dropped into the midfield as a result. Less than 60 seconds into the second half, Maignan denied Lautaro’s low shot from inside the box, with Milan having given the ball away in a bad area.

Milan provided a reminder of the threat that they pose on the break on a couple of occasions, such as just before the hour mark when Theo saw a rocket of a shot blocked behind. From the resulting corner, the whipped delivery drifted past everyone despite begging to be tucked in.

Inter again had the ball in the back of the net and again were forced to watch the linesman flag it off, this time for a shove in the back of Theo by Dumfries. Lautaro shoved Tomori in the ensuing melee but was not given a card.

The game became more open as the minutes ticked by, and Reijnders perhaps could have doubled his tally when the ball was won back in midfield and fed to Pulisic to the Dutchman, who whipped a first time effort straight into the arms of Sommer.

With 13 minutes left on the clock, Conceicao made a double change as Abraham made way for Francesco Camarda, then Musah came off for Filippo Terracciano.

AC Milan players before Inter
Photo by AC Milan

Inter came inches away from levelling on two occasions from corners. The first was a downward header from substitute Bissek that Maignan wasn’t close to saving and hit the woodwork, then the second came from Thuram who hit a volley that rebounded off the base of the post.

Inside the final five minutes the final changes were made, with Matteo Gabbia and Samuel Chukwueze coming on to replace Leao and Pulisic, marking a clear change to a five-man defence and a desire to see out the lead.

Camarda was not far enough from writing himself into Milan legend when he won the ball back on the half way line and managed to resist a challenge from behind, launching a shot from 25 yards out that whizzed narrowly over the bar.

In the five minutes of added time, the Nerazzurri were once again so close to levelling again, hitting the post for a third time through Dumfries, and then Maignan made a remarkable save to deny him again.

However, the pressure eventually told as Inter got the equaliser in the third minute of stoppage time. Jimenez gave the ball away when trying to clear, allowing Barella to cross for Zalewski whose chest laid it on a plate for De Vrij who fired in from close range.

Tags AC Milan Milan Inter

42 Comments

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  1. So Chuk has always been a b-rating Saelemaekers, Terraciano is however also a candidate to sell.
    Both can bring some money back in, both are not quality for Milna.

    1. I understand the strategy of going all in on defenders the last 8 minutes however it is Inter you are playing not some team destined for relegation. Winning is about hope and confidence. The subs went in there thinking ,” I do not want to be the one to lose the game” Pulisic, Leao and others although tired were thinking I want to be the one to take away any hope that Inter has. Play the psychological mind games some other time. Canciocau lost that game and lost a lot of players confidence in the process. I would rather dance with the devil I know.

  2. Milan stars doesn’t have motive to play.

    I think sacking coaches and sales should motive players stronger.

    But compare Milan bench. Camarda, Terracciano, Chukwueze, Gabbia… vs Inter.

    Unfortunately Milan left Inter to press and they couldn’t manage to strong defending.

    1. Not all true. Inter has been doing a phenomenal job with recruitment. They made over 30million on swapping Onana for Sommer. Thuram, Hakan, Zielinski were all free. Zalewski who played badly for Roma in their system but phenomenally well for Poland NT in their system is also Roma youth product, so no time needed to adapt and he is a short loan and a free agent in June. Milan is constantly bringing wrong players. They aren’t bad because as soon as they move away to other teams that specifically want them they play much better. We would have so much peace in the 2DM set up if Adli stayed it is unreal and he wasn’t good at all. It just it is now worse in that position than before.

  3. Terrariano has very low mentality. He can’t handle the pressure.
    He was brought on in last season to save the score and he blundered in all cases.

    Today also, he did nothing useful as expected and gave the ball away in last episode which eventually lead to their goal.

    It was a mistake sub. It doesn’t matter how young he is but his mentality can never overcome the pressure.

    I am okay with the score by the way. They fired 3 shots which were almost goals.

    Our bench were not as good as theirs

    1. And yet they haven’t beaten us this season yet with a deeper bench and more quality.

      The Takeaway here is not how well or unwell Terraciano played. The Takeaway was the response of the entire team, defensive solidity with Walker, and an interstellar performance by Tomori.

      I don’t even care that we drew last minute. We had no business winning this game given our recent form. If the team came together and stuck it out. The gaps in our midfield are evident, with the lack of options on the bench.

      But overall, this was a solid performance that we can hopefully carry with us the rest of the season. That’s what matters the most. To play like this against the lower table teams.

      1. Tomori cannot be placed on the wing. Malignant is his eyes and ears and is directing him. Over the past 5 years there has been a continued evolution to the play and role that the wingbacks play and though what a great guy Calabria was he never evolved. Walker was a huge improvement as evident today even though it was his first game. Cannot wait to see player ratings ……for both sides.

      1. No, Lazy Chuk supposed to bring more energy and press Inter but instead, he started walking.

        He has been losing the ball in touchline 100000 times. Is he blind or what? Can he not see the line? Why he runs on the touchline always?
        He doesn’t even look like a pro player.
        What he wanted to do on the pitch? He had no plan at all.

        I am curious what he happen if Conceicao removes Chuk’s bubble gum. Why he always has a bubble gum on his mouth?

        You can say it is none of my business but he is doing nothing and it might be a good idea

        1. Inter dal tri žrde my sme mali v druhom polčase dve šance trochu šťastia ale aj smoly dostať dve minúty pred koncom gól berme to tak že Inter nadnami túto sezónu Nevyhral zoberme si posledne sezóny My musíme vyhrávať zo slabšími mužstvami doma vonku tam strácame Body potom sme v tabuľke tak ako sme Forssa MILAN

          1. Presne tak dobre si to zhodnotil, každopádne aspoň jeden Slovak čo sem chodi 😀😀 za mna ok, mame bod z remízy čo je v tejto fáze kľúčové a môže to pomôcť hlavne mentalne. Stále je zápas k dobru .

      2. With his fresh legs, he should have brought more energy. More pressing, more covering, etc etc.

        And yes you’re right, we should leave him alone as he has no business staying in Milan. 28 million down the drain.

  4. You don’t sit back and allow them bring it to you. But the quality in midfield is very low compare to inter.

    You mark and chase them backwards from midfield.

    I Wanted the e points but Inter truly deserve the draw

  5. I think this is on Conceicao, sorry to say. Those substitutes were at the wrong time and the wrong players came off and on. Gabbia was fine, but taking Leao off was a mistake, in my opinion. Terracciano and Chukwueze are bottom tier players and shouldn’t play for Milan anymore. I would much rather have seen Okafor, Jovic, RLC or anyone else to hold it up or provide some pace.

    Hey, at least we showed some balls tonight and nearly did a triple on an Inter side that are much better than we are. And we didn’t lose..

    1. Agreed, we don’t have the players to play park the bus, so we shouldn’t be doing it. We needed to keep pressure on, but instead we just invited it and paid the price

    1. Absolutely correct, he should have had that self belief that the team showed throughout the game. Still a good performance considering the mess Milan has been in the last few weeks

  6. What a st*pid decision that conceicao made, changing the formation to 631 at last 10 minuts? Wtf..!! Putting so much player in your area for what?? 🤣🤣🤣 great shot from Camarda btw!!

  7. This one has to lay on conceicao. There was no reason to park the bus, and we paid the price for applying no pressure and just defending. Proud of a lot of the boys, tho. Tomori seemed to really step up his game today and pavlovic was a monster, walker playing like a leader, theo still often shaky but at least improved from last week. Camarda showed some genuine promise and desire, happy to see him gradually earning his minutes

  8. Great response with the entire team and at a critical juncture in our season. We are undefeated against the entire season. That’s not nothing.

    What a display by Pavlo and Tomori. Just goes to show you, if you threaten him with the transfer to the Spurs, he will elevate his game to the next level.

    Walker also looked head and shoulders better than any of the players in that position we have had.

    Conceicao has done a great job getting his team to react. I hope we carry this intensity and organization forward for the rest of the season.

    2 Wins and a draw against arguably the best team in the league who’s had our number for too many years to remember…

  9. It sucks to give up that goal at the end but Milan beat Inter twice and tied once this season. Inter is much better team and much deeper bench so I think that’s pretty good not to lose a single game to them. Walker looked good even though it was just his first game and he is not accustomed to Italian league yet. Camarda needs to play more, otherwise he won’t get better. Overall good effort, I just wish they did this against every team and not just in big games.

  10. You Italians are all stup*d id**ts. You blame Chukwu for everything. Was he the only player on the pitch?

    Jimenez had a chance to set Chukwu up but he passed back. Even Camarda could have laid a pass up for Chukwu but nonsense went for a shot under pressure.

    You lots are du*b!

    Chukwu had no business defending, he could have been used to counter and press an already tired inter team.

    You blame him for everything. This Fan base is so toxic I regret support this team for 24 years knowing you have such f**l as fans would have saved me the heartache.

    Maldini had a great project going but you kept complaining about his buys. Just because one or two didn’t click on time. Yet he left and those players are doing fine else where.

    Damn! Such stup*d fan base. A**sholes!

    1. You sound like you didn’t get laid in a very long time and your hand is getting tired. Go relax and stop writing about things you have no idea about. Chuk had no business defending? You’re right but that only applies when he has the ball at his feet with the team attacking – when team is defending, Chuk needs to defend also. You clearly showed that you have zero knowledge about futbol! Clown.

      1. You are the most idi**ic f**l responding to me. So you blame Chukwu for the goal. You are such a bl**dy f**l.

        How many times does Leao defend? You guys haunted Charles De so much that he is doing so well else where.

        I hope the boy leaves and you guys can find some player you can blame again.

        You are the f**lish clown here. Faggg!

  11. Another fatal error from chukwu, even he can’t give the good crossing / nutmeg the opponent. Suso better than him. Why Milan choose player like this ?? Last night He ruin the hard work from our CB and maignan for inter equaliser.

  12. Milan should park the bus. Look at inter, they control the game and they have lots of quality player. Milan should win the game last night but our substitute ruin the display.

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