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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.
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.
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