AC Milan Wins the Local Derby
Inter Milan hosted AC Milan in the Italian Serie A match. The local derby match was very important for both sides, as AC Milan needed the victory to go back on top of the table, while Inter needed to regain their lost position
from top four of Serie A.
In the end, both sides were separated by a goal from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a former Inter Milan player. AC Milan were reduced to 10 men as a red card was shown to Ignazio Abate. However, Inter failed to capitalize on the situation
as they failed to score despite having advantage in numbers.
Last season, AC Milan was completely overwhelmed by their neighbours in Italian Serie A. Under Jose Mourinho, Inter won both their derby matches comfortably, putting six goals past their archrivals. This puts Rafael Banitez, the
new manager of Inter, under a lot of pressure as his credentials are being suspected by critics.
Both managers picked up a strong side in the local derby. Inter Milan’s attack was led by Samuel Eto’o and Diego Milito while the playmaker role was given to Wesley Sneijder. There were some problems at the back as Maicon was missing
the game for his team. For AC Milan, the attack was led by the two new signings, Ibrahimovic and Robinho. In their presence, Ronaldinho was put on the bench by Massimiliano Allegri, along with Andrea Pirlo. The rest of the squad looked at full strength as
Milan looked to challenge the superiority of Inter in the league.
The derby became lively from the beginning, as a penalty was awarded to AC Milan after just four minutes into the match. The Italian defender Marco Materazzi fouled Ibrahimovic in the area as he looked to create an opening into
the box. The referee made no mistake as he pointed towards the penalty spot. Also, there were no complaints from Inter Milan as the penalty claim was genuine. Ibrahimovic stepped up confidently and scored to give his team the lead in opening five minutes.
AC Milan did not look content with the one goal advantage though as they looked threatening throughout the first half. Ibrahimovic was involved in almost all the piercing moves and played some great passes to Mathieu Flamini and
Clarence Seedorf, the last ditch tackles saving Inter every single time. Also, the Swede beat the keeper with his well hit volley, only to see it brush over the crossbar.
Rafael Banitez opted for a relatively defensive approach going into the match which, for some, was a bit of a surprise with Inter having the home advantage. The formation changed slightly when Joel Chukwuma Obi got injured and
was replaced by Philippe Coutinho. Inter looked more attacking after the change but it was not enough for Rafael Banitez side.
Wesley Sneijder looked a little threatening, but he was still far from his full potential. The Dutch playmaker had two opportunities on free kicks, but he sent one wide and the other one was saved easily by the goalkeeper. Samuel
Eto’o and Diego Milito did little to help their team, as Inter looked like losing the match with still half an hour to play.
Abate had a chance to leave the game as he injured his back during the match. However, he decided to continue, as he wanted to be a part of the victorious side. In the end, he got a second yellow card for a challenge on Goran Pandev,
and was sent off at a time when he was going to be replaced.
Inter could not make use of this opportunity, while AC Milan started defending for the last half hour of the match. In the end, the fifth minute penalty, scored by Ibrahimovic, was enough to separate both the sides. With the victory,
AC Milan moves to the top of the table, while Inter sits six points behind them in fifth place.
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