Derby in black and blue – Kommersant

Inter won 2-0 in their first Champions League semi-final against AC Milan. The outcome of this Milan derby was already decided in the first minutes, when Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored two quick goals. Now, in a week, irreconcilable rivals will finally find out which of them will play in the final.

It rarely happens when clubs from the same country, but also from the same city meet in the play-offs of the Champions League. And even when they still perform at the same stadium, this is generally possible only if fate brings Milan and Inter, who share the Giuseppe Meazza arena.

The current Milan derby was the third in the history of the Champions League, and in the 2002/03 season it also took place at the semi-final stage. Then, as well as later in the quarter-finals of the 2004-2005 tournament, Milan celebrated success in the sum of two meetings. However, according to the sum of all matches between these teams, which had previously crossed 219 times, the advantage was on the side of Inter – 81 wins against 71 with 67 draws. And recently, the Interists have won more often, having defeated the Milanists in the January Italian Super Cup and the February confrontation of the national championship, as well as in last year’s semi-final of the country’s Cup.

Though, of course, it didn’t mean anything now. The famous clubs had an absolutely equal chance of reaching the Champions League final, and both were in good working order. Well, except that Milan lacked the injured Rafael Leana, who was replaced by Alexis Salemakers.

On the field, too, a balance seemed to be established, suggesting a tedious and viscous positional struggle with many martial arts and a minimum of scoring chances. In general, at first, the teams did not even look at the gate until the nominal guests earned the usual corner. A serve followed, and Inter striker Edin Dzeko, despite the tight guardianship of Davide Calabria, drove the ball from the summer into the top corner with his left foot. “Milan” was clearly dumbfounded by such a debut, because an early goal already in the eighth minute arose literally from nothing. And the wards of Simone Inzaghi immediately took advantage of the confusion in the ranks of the hosts. Joining the attack on the left flank of Federico Dimarco and his pass to the center upset Milan’s defensive formations, and Lautaro Martinez confused the opponents by passing the ball to Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who burst into the penalty area. As a result, the Armenian midfielder found himself all alone in front of goalkeeper Mike Menyan and did not miss this opportunity.

Thus, by the 11th minute, the score was 2-0 in favor of Inter, which shocked not only Milan fans, but also Paolo Maldini and other club legends who were present in the stands. Moreover, soon Hakan Chalkhanoglu loaded into the post, and Mkhitaryan could score a double from finishing, but landed in Menyan. So the red-blacks were still lucky that they didn’t get 0-3 by the 16th minute.

At the same time, Milan suffered an early personnel loss after Ismael Bennacer, who acted as a dispatcher, limped and was replaced. Moreover, the absence of Lean, as it turned out, hit the attacking potential of Stefano Pioli’s team hard. In the first half, she did not disturb the goalkeeper Andre Onana. But at the gates of Meignan every now and then a fire broke out. Spanish referee Jesús Gil Manzano even awarded a penalty for Simon Chier’s foul on Martinez. True, VAR, having analyzed the episode more carefully, recommended that this decision be canceled, since the Argentine fell in the penalty area more on his own initiative. But Martinez later almost scored from the field, breaking over the crossbar.

In the second half, Milan had to do something. Brahim Diaz landed a relatively dangerous blow from a distance, and then Junior Messias ran away almost face to face with Onana. Nevertheless, the Cameroonian did not have to bail out – Messias showed that he was far from Lionel Messi, and launched the ball not even close to the post. But Menyan just saved Milan when Dzeko fell out one on one with him.

Pioli tried to change the game with substitutions. The hosts really stepped up the pressure, and Sandro Tonali was close to returning the intrigue to this match, hitting the woodwork from outside the penalty area. In response, Inzaghi also refreshed the squad, and Milan’s emerging playing advantage somehow faded away unnoticed. Red-black did not even manage to give at least a fiery ending. Inter regularly counter-attacked and thereby knocked them out of the rhythm, and they still defended themselves much more accurately and stricter. Milan centre-forward Olivier Giroud didn’t have a chance in over 90 minutes. Only Tommaso Pobega in stoppage time was marked by a tight blow directly to Onana.

The Black-and-Blues without incident brought the first semi-final meeting to a 2-0 victory, and it makes them favorites in the current Milan derby, which will continue at the same stadium on May 16th.

Alexander Ilyin