Milan vs Inter 1-1: Fair Ending as De Vrij Cancels Reijnders Lead | OneFootball

This season’s trend in Serie A seems to be that the Derby di Milano must be decided at the very last minute. Milan had won their past two cross-town confrontations with Inter with two last-gasp goals, but tonight it was the Nerazzurri to put themselves back on track just when the referee was about to blow for full time.

The Derby thus ended 1-1 as Stephan De Vrij equalized for Inter with 93 minutes on the clock after his fellow Dutch countryman Tijjani Reijnders opened the scoring for Milan right before half time. It was the right conclusion to a vibrant edition of the Milanese stracittadina. After hitting the post three times and being denied a clear penalty, Simone Inzaghi’s Nerazzurri deserved at least one point, even though they now risk losing further ground to the top of the table if Napoli beat Roma later tonight.

As for Milan, they seemed to be still under the effect of this explicable spell that is allowing them to always cause trouble to their cross-town rivals this season despite trailing Inter by 16 points in the standings. However, after closing the first half sitting on a surprising one-goal cushion, Sergio Conceicao redeployed the Rossoneri with an overly cautious approach, their game plan for the final 45 minutes seeming to be just defending to the death and trying to catch Inter on the counter. It did not work in the end, Inter’s late goal being only an inevitable conclusion.

Milan lined up Kyle Walker from the start at right back and you could really see how the former Manchester City veteran is already a leader in the Rossoneri backline. With Alvaro Morata now at Galatasaray, it was up to Tammy Abraham to lead the attack, supported by Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao on the wings. New striker Santiago Giménez was watching the game from the stands.

There were no surprises in the Nerazzurri‘s solid 3-5-2 lineup as Inzaghi could finally include Hakan Calhanoglu back in his starting XI. Nicola Zalewski, who just completed his move from Roma, was on the bench. More on him later.

Inter commanded the operations from the start, with Calhanoglu setting the tempo, and had two goals disallowed on grounds of offside (from Federico Dimarco and Lautaro Martinez). But Milan’s defensive line worked well for once and Mike Maignan did not suffer any threat in the first 45 minutes, save for a Lautaro shot from a Marcus Thuram’s service. El Toro had a free path ahead of him when Thuram picked him in the middle of the box but fired the ball into the South Stands of the San Siro.

Milan woke up slowly but, on 32 minutes, Reijnders sent a clear warning sign with a fantastic shot to the top right corner of Yann Sommer’s goal. The Inter custodian brilliantly rose to the task and palmed away the Dutchman’s effort. A few minutes later, Benjamin Pavard made the defensive clearance of the day as he snatched the ball out of Rafa Leao’s feet after Reijnders ignited a Milan counterattack.

The derby changed its face right before the break. It all started with Abraham stealing the ball from Calhanoglu at midfield and triggering another Milan fast break. This time, the Rossoneri dashed along the left channel as Theo Hernandez picked Leao again. Sommer failed to block the Portuguese starlet’s shot, allowing Reijnders to tap the ball in from close range and make it 1-0 for Sergio Conceicao’s side.

Milan’s plan to defend the one-goal lead seemed clear but it risked failing early after the restart as Reijnders lost the ball in his defensive third and propitiated Lautaro’s shot. Good for Milan that this just wasn’t El Toro‘s night as he came up with a central conclusion that Maignan parried back with his feet.

Inzaghi’s strategy, on the other hand, was for Inter to keep their cool and slowly build up their chances. The gaffer made multiple substitutions, introducing Yann Bisseck, Carlos Augusto and Piotr Zielinski. He eventually also added Davide Frattesi and Zalewski. Sergio Conceicao pulled out Yunus Musah at half time, replacing him with Alex Jimenez, and progressively switched to a more defensive setup with his additional changes, finishing the game with only 16-year-old Francesco Camarda upfront.

The result was Inter pushing for an equalizer and coming close to it. They had yet another goal disallowed, this time for a Denzel Dumfries foul in the buildup, and also had some genuine penalty claims waived away. The referee did not see Strahinja Pavlovic knock Thuram down in the box as his view was blocked by Theo Hernandez’s clearance, yet the VAR also failed to pick the incident.

When Bisseck hit the post from a corner kick, it looked like luck was just not on Inter’s side tonight, and that became even more evident when Thuram sent the ball crashing exactly into the same left post a few minutes later in similar fashion. Since three is NOT a charm, Dumfries was the next to see his header effort pushed back by the post, then had another great chance but this time Maignan denied him.

Only on 93 minutes did the Nerazzurri‘s onslaught finally bore fruit as substitutes Bisseck and Zalewski cooperated to set up De Vrij’s equalizer. Jimenez failed to clear the ball (a real shame, as the young Spaniard’s performance had been brilliant up to that point…) and Bisseck could cross it to the left side of Milan’s area, where Polish-Italian starlet Zalewski was quick to chest it for De Vrij’s winning deflection. A fair ending for an entertaining Derby della Madonnina.

REFEREE: Mr. Chiffi from PaduaNOTES: