AC Milan secured another huge three points on Sunday night at San Siro, beating their city rivals Inter 1-0 in the Derby della Madonnina.
The only goal of the game came early in the second half and it came from Christian Pulisic. Alexis Saelemaekers was the one who fired the initial shot and Yann Sommer tipped it into the path of the USA international.
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There was to be more drama inside the last 20 minutes, as a penalty was awarded for a foul by Strahinja Pavlovic on Marcus Thuram after a VAR review. The script was written for Hakan Calhanoglu, but Mike Maignan had other ideas and kept out his spot kick.
The result means that Milan jump above their neighbours and move into second place, two points behind the league-leaders Roma. It also continues a fantastic start to the season against rivals for European places, after having beaten Napoli, Bologna and the Giallorossi.
Massimiliano Allegri made four changes to the starting line-up from the side that drew with Parma before the break. Fikayo Tomori came back into the defence, Davide Bartesaghi retook his left wing-back spot, Adrien Rabiot returned to the midfield and Christian Pulisic started up front.
The first half-chance of the game went to Inter, as they started on top as might be expected. A couple of corners in quick succession eventually saw Marcus Thuram get on the end of a cross with a stooping header, one which Mike Maignan clawed away with a strong left hand.
The Milan players surrounded the referee Simone Sozza when Matteo Gabbia was left down on the floor in a heap with a bloodied nose after what looked to be an elbow from Lautaro Martinez. He shook off the pain and came back on, with no punishment for the Inter captain.
Inter continued their pressure in the Milan half and had a couple more snapshots that fizzed wide of the post. Firstly Federico Dimarco had a low drive deflect wide, then Petar Sucic hit a half-volley over the upright. At the other end, Davide Bartesaghi – in his first derby start – dragged a shot wide from the left side of the box.
The Nerazzurri were knocking on the door from set-pieces despite the reports that Milan had prepared specifically to face them. Francesco Acerbi was inches away from scoring against his former club with a near-post flick from a corner, but it rattled the outside of the post.
Maignan continued to be the busier of the two goalkeepers, and he made a phenomenal save eight minutes before the break to deny Lautaro a 10th derby goal. A Thuram knock-down was stabbed towards the bottom corner with the outside of the Argentine’s boot, yet the French goalkeeper somehow tipped it onto the post.
Milan were mostly restricted to efforts from range, with Youssouf Fofana and Alexis Saelemaekers both shooting wildly over the bar from about 25 yards out with what could be called speculative attempts at best. Pulisic came closer a couple of minutes before the break, curling narrowly wide of the right post with Yann Sommer sprawling.
The first effort of the second half went to Inter, as Thuram cut inside onto his right foot on the left edge of the box and bent one towards the far post, with flashbacks to the screamer he scored in the 2023-24 defeat. This time, however, Maignan claimed relatively comfortably.
Against the run of play, Milan struck first in the derby through Pulisic. The assist for the goal should go to Saelemaekers, who took the ball in transition and fired a shot that was going into the bottom left corner. Sommer got down well and with his right hand, but he only managed to parry it straight into the path of the American forward, who slotted into an empty net.
The goal seemed to inspire a bit of confidence in Allegri’s side, who began popping the ball around nicely on the edge of the Inter box. Sommer was forced to make a relatively easy save down to his right from an angled Fofana drive, when there might have been options to square with Leao and Pulisic waiting.
With just less than 20 minutes on the clock, there was a hugely controversial moment. Thuram went down after a cross clutching his ankle, and the referee Sozza went over the monitor, deeming that Pavlovic had fouled him in the follow-through and awarding a penalty. Maignan saved his last penalty against Paulo Dybala, and he kept out the Turkey international too with a fantastic save.
Allegri made a couple of changes as the clock ticked towards the final 10 minutes. Samuele Ricci and Christopher Nkunku were the pair who came on, with Fofana and Pulisic making way. With five minutes to go, Ruben Loftus-Cheek replaced Leao, who by this point was toiling.
The Nerazzurri continued to huff and puff to try and break down Milan’s block, with substitute Andy Diouf firing into the arms of Maignan, and then another substitute in Ange-Yoan Bonny lashing over from the edge of the box from a Diouf cut-back.
Wasn’t a penalty but the fact that Hakan failed so epically was priceless.
was 100% a penalty. your saying tht because it was inter if it was milan and it was acerbi on leao everyone would go nuts… cmon do better
If that’s a pen then Modric catching Bastoni is also a pen?
The ball was well gone when the foil took place. It didn’t change the trajectory of the ball or where it was going to end up. Not a pen
the issue is bastoni dived , thuram didnt . pavlovich stepped on his foot . thats a possible dangerous foul. also modric came to block with his back facing the man so he had no intent to harm the player unlike pavlovich who cut across thuram knowing the possibilty of giving the pen away. silly mistake that couldve costen us
You are a loser who knows absolutely nothing about football.
It was not a penalty, as the episode had already been played & the Inter player was able to pass the ball without any problems.
After a successful pass was already made, Pavlovic stepped on the slipped foot, that no longer posed any potential threat.
This is never a penalty.
That’s a foul anywhere on the pitch. The fact the ball has been played is irrelevant
It is relevant, hence I have mentioned it. What happens after the ball is played is irrelevant. No intention to make the foul, merely an inertia.
I would hate if Milan have gotten such penalty, as in my eyes — it is not.
@qqq
That is what you call a late tackle.
You can’t just stand on someone’s ankle
You got to be kidding. You realize that if an opposition player gets fouled in the box even if the ball is passed around at the other end of the pitch that is still a penalty? What are you actually talking about? That would not be a penalty before 1995 maybe with no VAR and a sliding tackle from the back considered something normal.
0% or 100%, who gives a f*** as the Kebab-snake missed it!!! 😀 😀 😀 😀
No it wasn’t. Go back to drink your Kool aid.
What in the world is wrong with Mike? Firstly he’s been criticised for having lost his penalty saving ability then he goes on to stop two in a row… Wow! And now he doesn’t get injured anymore. Will hate to lose this guy honestly.
Furlani, Tare, please just give Maignan what he is asking for and renew to him.
I agree with you. We have to keep him at all cost
New contract for Maignan
Penalty or not penalty, what is important is, we got the 3 points and we maintain head-to-head lead over Inter since the last 6 outings. Good result boys, you are made us proud. Forza Milan..
I’m a Milan fan, so I’m driven by passion. Therefore, it wasn’t a penalty. Plain and simple.
So… Winless in 6. I love it. 😂😂😂😂
AC Milans record is 13 consecutive unbeaten matches in derbies in between 1974-79. Inters is 17 matches in between 1929-37 but back then there wasn’t any European matches either.
Difficult record to break but lets go 😀
I thought about writing “let’s go for 10” but didn’t want to jinx it… I guess you did that already though. 😁
😀 Everything beautiful has its end but truth be told both Milans and Inters consecutive streaks without losing against each other probably will be an unlikely event to be beaten so I’ll take this one on me even if I don’t believe in superstition 😀 10 though isn’t impossible but then we will have to take it from there and onwards 😛
👌
When i said the draw vs parma was so that Max’s 100 win for Milan would come against the rat’s(inter) many said i’m no true fan, finaly it did happen. so happy right now like we won the league already
While we’re yelling at each other about whether or not it was a penalty, let’s list our un-sung hero’s of this game. Mine are: 1) Gabbia. He played most of the game with what looks like a broken nose and he still shut the middle down. I love this guy!
2) Tomori. He played really solid, physical defense and didn’t give anything up in the second half, plus he had some great cleats out of the box.
3) Bartesaghi. He was solid and careful. Of greatest importance, the Derby game wasn’t too big for him. He showed no nerves and he made two great blocks of crossing attempts in injury time when it mattered. Huge step for him.
Who are your notable players?
You forgot the MVP. Mike. Rabiot was excellent at times. Sure, made a couple of easy give-aways but he was out for a month so everyone else has had THAT excuse lately. 😀
Fofana was notable too. In being lazy and careless.