AC Milan 1-1 Inter: De Vrij’s late equaliser means derby spoils are shared | OneFootball

AC Milan were forced to settle for a point in the Derby della Madonnina against Inter, conceding a late equaliser in a 1-1.

Milan went into the break a goal ahead thanks to Tijjani Reijnders’ finish after Yann Sommer parried Rafael Leao’s cross, and they managed to hold it for a long time despite wave after wave of pressure from Inter.

In the 93rd minute, the Nerazzurri did get the equalising goal with Stefan De Vrij firing in after a cross was chested down to him around six yards out, and that would be the way that the score ended.

It means lost ground on Fiorentina and Juventus who each won earlier today, but in truth it was probably a fair result at the end of the proceedings, if not slightly fortuitous.

Sergio Conceicao made three changes to the starting line-up from the team that lost to Dinamo Zagreb in midweek, with Kyle Walker making his debut at right-back, Ismael Bennacer coming into the midfield and Tammy Abraham as the centre-forward.

Inter started the game much brighter and had the ball in the back of the net inside seven minutes as Lautaro squared for Dimarco to tap into an unguarded goal. However, the striker had strayed well offside before the pass, so it was rightly called off.

Mike Maignan was called into action for the first time a few minutes later, with some nice link-up play inside the Milan box ending with Lautaro laying it off to Barella whose shot was grasped by the Frenchman relatively easy.

In truth it was quite a scrappy opening to the game with both sides struggling to find much end product. Rafael Leao went down inside the box under a challenge from Pavard, appealing for a penalty, yet the offside flag went up as he had strayed a few yards and the Frenchman also got the ball.

The Nerazzurri continued to have the better of the opportunities, and Lautaro perhaps should have done better when Thuram did well to shrug off pressure from Tomori and cut back to the Argentine, who skied his effort.

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Up the other end, Sommer was forced into his first stop when Tijjani Reijnders let fly with a rising shot that was heading for the top corner at the near post, but was parried over in the end.

In the one added minute at the end of the first half, Milan took the lead thanks to Reijnders’ 11th goal of the season. A quick counter-attack saw the ball carried forward by Theo Hernandez and fed to Leao, whose square ball was parried to the feet of the Dutchman and the finish was applied emphatically.

Conceicao made a change at the break with Ismael Bennacer making way for Jimenez, and Yunus Musah dropped into the midfield as a result. Less than 60 seconds into the second half, Maignan denied Lautaro’s low shot from inside the box, with Milan having given the ball away in a bad area.

Milan provided a reminder of the threat that they pose on the break on a couple of occasions, such as just before the hour mark when Theo saw a rocket of a shot blocked behind. From the resulting corner, the whipped delivery drifted past everyone despite begging to be tucked in.

Inter again had the ball in the back of the net and again were forced to watch the linesman flag it off, this time for a shove in the back of Theo by Dumfries. Lautaro shoved Tomori in the ensuing melee but was not given a card.

The game became more open as the minutes ticked by, and Reijnders perhaps could have doubled his tally when the ball was won back in midfield and fed to Pulisic to the Dutchman, who whipped a first time effort straight into the arms of Sommer.

With 13 minutes left on the clock, Conceicao made a double change as Abraham made way for Francesco Camarda, then Musah came off for Filippo Terracciano.

Photo by AC Milan

Inter came inches away from levelling on two occasions from corners. The first was a downward header from substitute Bissek that Maignan wasn’t close to saving and hit the woodwork, then the second came from Thuram who hit a volley that rebounded off the base of the post.

Inside the final five minutes the final changes were made, with Matteo Gabbia and Samuel Chukwueze coming on to replace Leao and Pulisic, marking a clear change to a five-man defence and a desire to see out the lead.

Camarda was not far enough from writing himself into Milan legend when he won the ball back on the half way line and managed to resist a challenge from behind, launching a shot from 25 yards out that whizzed narrowly over the bar.

In the five minutes of added time, the Nerazzurri were once again so close to levelling again, hitting the post for a third time through Dumfries, and then Maignan made a remarkable save to deny him again.

However, the pressure eventually told as Inter got the equaliser in the third minute of stoppage time. Jimenez gave the ball away when trying to clear, allowing Barella to cross for Zalewski whose chest laid it on a plate for De Vrij who fired in from close range.