Inter's coup of authority: knock out Milan in three minutes
Three minutes. 180 seconds. That’s how long the excitement lasted in the stands of the San Siro. Without breaking a sweat, the derby della Madonnina blew up as no one could have imagined. If only to dream. Milan and Inter were meeting 19 years later in a Champions League semi-final after a painful sporting journey that kept them apart from the European sky. For the two teams from the Lombardy capital, also obliged to a societal reconversion and to fight against the disaffection of years without glory, the last two steps towards a final that makes laurels green just by playing it, were starting. In the first, Milan stumbled and rolled over. [Narration and statistics]
It took Inter a breath to destroy their opponents. It effortlessly unraveled the seams of Stefano Pioli’s team that drew, like Simone Inzaghi, a patient and long, very long elimination.. His prognosis failed miserably.. Regretting the absence of Rafael Leao, injured in the stands along with a desperate Ibrahimovic, the rossoneri showed a fragility unknown in this competition. Their solidity has been the basis for reaching the semifinal: Tottenham did not beat them in the round of 16 and the skilful Napoli only managed it with the tie resolved. However, it did not last before his neighbor, when he needed her most.
Çalhanoglu put on his glove to place a corner in the heart of the area where the veteran Dzeko, caught by Calabria, was able to arm his left leg and volley it to beat Maignan. The first pitcher of cold water that lit the south stands of San Siro was followed by the second. Di Marco threw Lautaro who saw the perfect corridor to let Mkhitaryan unleash a right hand almost to the front that increased his advantage. They were minutes of anxiety for Milan, who lost Bennacer due to injury, asked for a penalty for a hold on Giroud that Gil Manzano did not consider sufficient and was about to have to give up Maignan. And it is that the French goalkeeper gambled on a twisted knee with which to deflect another shot from the Armenian, who had picked up the ball that had hit the post by Çalhanoglu.
Drowned, it took Milan half an hour to appear in Onana's goal. He did it at the moment when Brahim emerged on the wing with a cross that Calabria finished off very forcefully. they stretched. The stands were confident, but still had no reason to bring out the flares because their team kept capsizing. So much so that the rogue Lautaro tried to take advantage of a fall against Kjaer that the Extremaduran referee whistled as a penalty and annulled by intermediating the VAR. The locals had dodged a bullet that could have permanently erased them from the final.
They wanted to shake off the fear and the weight of the two goals and stretched with a sterile slalom from Saelemaekers, whose greatest contribution was to prevent Inter from continuing to seek to run and showing that spring suits them. Cup finalists and third in Serie A, they are looking for a European cherry under the resigned look of enemies like Maldini, Shevchenko and even Novak Djokovic. A Champions League final to which the Nerazzurri have not appeared since 2010, when they emerged champions at the Bernabéu under the guidance of Mourinho.
The passage through the locker room awakened Milan. Pioli could not throw in the towel and moved his pieces to sink Inter and had the best chance in a shot from Tonali that crashed into the strain of the post. Had to find some oxygen for the return. He tried Brahim and Junior Messias with a very crossed shot. Inzaghi saw the bet and, although Dzeko had a one-on-one with Maignan, he doubled it: he protected the midfield with Brozovic and the band with De Vrij while throwing to Lukaku. With that, he again moved Milan away from his area and made the field steep enough for him to not be able to react. It did not do so, and is banking on the second leg, in the same scenario, to change the script.