I never expected my first match report to be on a Serie A game but that’s the way it’s turned out to be. Sunderland’s emphatic win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge was surely the biggest news of the night but there was another match left for the weekend – Derby della Madonnina or The Milan derby. And with AC Milan coming into this match as favourites owing to their three-point lead over Inter for the first time in more than four years, this match was a big opportunity for the Nerazzurri to put things back on level terms and reassert their half a decade long dominance in the Serie A.
Inter had a couple of injury problems with defenders Maicon and Samuel altogether missing from the squad and #1 keeper Júlio César and defensive midfielder Esteban “Cuchu” Cambiasso not able to make the starting XI. Milan had problems of their own, with young Brazilian forward Alexandre Pato and veteran Inzaghi missing due to injuries. Also, Andrea “The Architect” Pirlo was named as a substitute and Ronaldinho failed to make the cut due to coach Allegri’s strict technical-squad requirements.
The match had a vigorous start as Zlatan Ibrahimović was provided open space to run in Inter’s half twice inside the first few minutes. On his second run, he was brought down by Materazzi as he looked to deliver the ball inside the six-yard box. He himself stepped up to take the resulting penalty and drilled the ball into the net as Castellazzi went the wrong way. One-nil to Milan in less than five minutes. I Rossoneri’s dominance of the match continued and Ibra should have scored at least once but he always went for the pass. Obi’s injury around the half hour mark rather ironically proved fruitful to Inter as incoming substitute Coutinho provided that spark that they needed in attack with his agility and speed. And at half-time, it was Inter who looked stronger.
Changes at half-time included Pirlo for Gattuso, who was lucky to have escaped a second yellow card in the first half. Inter Milan replaced the rather useless Milito with Pandev and looked to pick up from where they left in the first half. With every passing minute, the Nerazzurri started to look stronger but time and again, Milan’s defence – helped by Flamini and captain Ambrosini and even Pirlo when needed proved too strong for them. The best chance of the hour was provided by Sneijder’s direct free kick but Abbiati did enough to keep it out of harm’s way. A little conflict over a collision between two players was made most of by Goran Pandev who used football’s dark arts to ensure Abate got a second yellow and was sent off, minutes before his substitution and he himself escaped with just a yellow. Milan, now down to ten men had to take out Robinho to put full back Antonini in and this dampened hopes of a second goal as Ibrahimović was now left isolated in attack. Despite their disadvantage, the best chance of the last third of the match fell to Milan on a counter-attack but Seedorf couldn’t shoot on target. Inter did all they could for the remainder of the match, even substituting centre back Materazzi for French winger Biabiany but Milan’s rock solid defence saw the game through.
In the end, not really a brilliant performance by the Rossoneri but a win’s a win which means full three points for Allegri’s men. The Nerazzurri now sit in fourth place and are six points behind leaders and local rivals, AC Milan.
Inter had a couple of injury problems with defenders Maicon and Samuel altogether missing from the squad and #1 keeper Júlio César and defensive midfielder Esteban “Cuchu” Cambiasso not able to make the starting XI. Milan had problems of their own, with young Brazilian forward Alexandre Pato and veteran Inzaghi missing due to injuries. Also, Andrea “The Architect” Pirlo was named as a substitute and Ronaldinho failed to make the cut due to coach Allegri’s strict technical-squad requirements.
The match had a vigorous start as Zlatan Ibrahimović was provided open space to run in Inter’s half twice inside the first few minutes. On his second run, he was brought down by Materazzi as he looked to deliver the ball inside the six-yard box. He himself stepped up to take the resulting penalty and drilled the ball into the net as Castellazzi went the wrong way. One-nil to Milan in less than five minutes. I Rossoneri’s dominance of the match continued and Ibra should have scored at least once but he always went for the pass. Obi’s injury around the half hour mark rather ironically proved fruitful to Inter as incoming substitute Coutinho provided that spark that they needed in attack with his agility and speed. And at half-time, it was Inter who looked stronger.
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Changes at half-time included Pirlo for Gattuso, who was lucky to have escaped a second yellow card in the first half. Inter Milan replaced the rather useless Milito with Pandev and looked to pick up from where they left in the first half. With every passing minute, the Nerazzurri started to look stronger but time and again, Milan’s defence – helped by Flamini and captain Ambrosini and even Pirlo when needed proved too strong for them. The best chance of the hour was provided by Sneijder’s direct free kick but Abbiati did enough to keep it out of harm’s way. A little conflict over a collision between two players was made most of by Goran Pandev who used football’s dark arts to ensure Abate got a second yellow and was sent off, minutes before his substitution and he himself escaped with just a yellow. Milan, now down to ten men had to take out Robinho to put full back Antonini in and this dampened hopes of a second goal as Ibrahimović was now left isolated in attack. Despite their disadvantage, the best chance of the last third of the match fell to Milan on a counter-attack but Seedorf couldn’t shoot on target. Inter did all they could for the remainder of the match, even substituting centre back Materazzi for French winger Biabiany but Milan’s rock solid defence saw the game through.
In the end, not really a brilliant performance by the Rossoneri but a win’s a win which means full three points for Allegri’s men. The Nerazzurri now sit in fourth place and are six points behind leaders and local rivals, AC Milan.
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