Inter 1-2 AC Milan: Gabbia scores late winner to stop history being made

AC Milan won their first Derby della Madonnina since 2022 after goals from Christian Pulisic and Matteo Gabbia either side of Federico Dimarco’s goal. 

Ahead of the derby, Milan and more importantly the senior figures at the club were under intense pressure. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paulo Fonseca and Rafael Leao had been heavy topics of criticism after midweek events. However, the derby offered a fantastic chance for a restart.

Things started fantastically for the Rossoneri and after a large period of pressure, they took the lead through Christian Pulisic, who took advantage of the space left open by Inter’s defence and nicely finished his chance.

Their lead would only last 17 minutes, though, and after poor positioning, Inter levelled through Federico Dimarco – who was a persistent threat for the hosts all night.

Milan would eventually make their second-half dominance worthwhile, though, with a late goal from Matteo Gabbia following a fantastic cross from Tijjani Reijnders. A fantastic moment.

Before the game, Fonseca’s future was a heavy topic and after changing his system slightly, there were signs of promise throughout the game, and there were spells where his side looked the better of the two teams. Following the result, and more importantly the performance, it remains to be seen what the future holds.

The first chance of the game fell to Alvaro Morata – from the right-hand side, Tijjani Reijnders shifted inside finding the Spaniard who forced a save from Yann Sommer, and whilst the Rossoneri couldn’t do anything with the resulting corner it was a nice sign early on.

Milan almost breached the Inter defence twice in as many minutes as Pulisic drove through the middle and almost managed to weave his way through the defence, but he was stopped in his tracks. Again, a promising sign.

To the joy of the Milanisti in the Meazza, the promising signs became something tangible as Pulisic was, again, given space through the middle of the pitch. Seeing a gap in the Inter defence, the winger drove through and slid the ball past Sommer making it 1-0.

Unfortunately, the lead only lasted for 17 minutes. Nicolo Barella played a long switch where Fede Dimarco was left unmarked, the Italian then played it first time into Martinez – who probably was allowed a little bit too much space. Inter’s captain then refound the wing-back and he dispatched a driven shot into the far corner.

Questions, again, will be asked about Emerson Royal for his positioning in the goal. From the original pass, the Brazilian should have been tighter, and then he was dragged into pressing Martinez – being the third player to do so and leaving Dimarco clear at the back post. Questionable once again, and frustrations are understandable.

Following the goal, Inter started to dominate the game, with Milan failing to really exit their own half, at least meaningfully. If anything, it seemed as if the pressure was setting onto the shoulders of the Diavolo’s players, with them starting to dally on the ball and look less confident going forward.

Again, Inter attacked down the line and Dumfries found Martinez sitting outside the box – almost mirroring the equaliser. The Argentine striker once again played the ball through, this time to Marcus Thuram, and the Frenchman struck the ball towards the far corner but Mike Maignan was brilliantly equal to it.

From the resulting corner, Inter came close once again with a searching ball across the box but no one could meet it. You could argue Milan got quite lucky but without another goal conceded, they will not complain at all.

At the half-time whistle some positives can be taken, and barring the expected period of pressure after Inter’s goal, the Rossoneri looked quite passable, perhaps even good at times. Pulisic had some good moments, but Fonseca needed to request more from Rafael Leao and Youssouf Fofana – who got booked after being caught napping in possession.

The change in the system showed bright signs in the first half, especially in the opening periods, and had the Diavolo been slightly better in defence they probably would have taken a lead into half-time.

Milan’s first chance of the second half came within the first minute as the Rossoneri charged down the right-hand side, Emerson put in a fantastic ball to find Tammy Abraham who met the ball with a great header forcing a fantastic save from Sommer.

Just a minute later, the Diavolo came close again and following some heavy pressing Sommer’s heavy touch and clearance led to him clattering Abraham in the box but a VAR check deemed there to be nothing sinister in it.

The following 10 minutes were filled with Inter pressure, with very few ‘chances’. Instead, it was just large spells of possession with Milan arguably making things slightly difficult for themselves, and the Nerazzurri failing to capitalise on anything.

Inter nearly capitalised on a chance in the 61st minute, again Dimarco the protagonist and after entering the box well, Matteo Gabbia made a fantastic sliding challenge to prevent a shot or pass.

It would be Milan who next came closest to scoring, and Rafael Leao finally showed glimpses of himself with a fantastic run down the left-hand side, after evading a challenge well, he found Reijnders in the box and the Dutchman forced another good save from Sommer.

From the resulting corner, the Rossoneri thought they had a penalty after the ball made contact with what looked to be Martinez’s arm, but after a VAR check, the referee deemed it to have connected with his shoulder and scratched the call.

Leao made the next chance of the game, this time counter-attacking down the left-hand side and after cutting into the box he had a weak attempt which Sommer saved easily. Signs of him gaining confidence, though, which is not a bad thing at all.

Again, Inter made a nice chance down the left-hand side, this time Martinez would be the one to unleash an attempt – doing so with a first-time volley with his weak foot – but Maignan saved well.

Sommer, again, was the hero 15 minutes from time, Tammy Abraham broke free and with Leao and Pulisic supporting either side of him he opted to go to the Portuguese winger and Sommer saved the resulting shot fantastically.

The Rossoneri came agonisingly close to taking the lead again just minutes later and Abraham this time took on the shot himself, but he dragged his shot slightly wide of the post. Very close once again, painfully so.

Following the chance, Fonseca made his first substitutions of the night – Noah Okafor for Morata, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek for Pulisic, and it seemed that the Englishman had been deployed as the second striker, at least when defending. Shortly after, Leao was also taken off for Samuel Chukwueze with the winger tiring.

The pressure eventually came good for Milan as Reijnders delivered an inch-perfect set-piece which Matteo Gabbia headed home past the flailing Sommer sending the Rossoneri into pandemonium. What a moment for the defender and a massively deserved goal for him and the Diavolo.

Inter do not win their seventh consecutive derby in a row. Milan win the derby for the first time since 2022. Unbelievable scenes.