The Inter fans sang the Guys we got excited again, unofficial anthem of the Argentine fans in Qatar. It was part of the party of the interista people, a visitor at San Siro in the course of the first leg of the Champions League semifinal that takes place in the Derby from Milan. Reasons were not lacking for the followers to feel like winners. At 12 minutes, Inter led 2-0 and calmly contemplated from its shell the blatant impotence of Milan to stage the attacks in the course of a match that rewarded conservatism and elevated the unexpected Dzeko to the status of a hero. The return, next Tuesday on the same stage, presents a clear favourite.
0
Mike Maignan, Kjaer (Malick Thiaw, min. 59), Davide Calabria (Pierre Kalulu Kyatengwa, min. 81), Fikayo Tomori, Theo Hernández, Rade Krunic, Bennacer (Junior Messias, min. 17), Brahim Diaz (Tommaso Pobega, min. 82), Sandro Tonali, Alexis Saelemaekers (Divock Origi, min. 59) and Giroud
2
Andre Onana, Darmian, Alessandro Bastoni, Acerbi, Mkhitaryan (Brozovic, min. 62), Calhanoglu (Gagliardini, min. 77), Dimarco (de Vrij, min. 70), Barella, Denzel Dumfries, Lautaro Martínez (Joaquin Correa, min. 78) and Dzeko (Lukaku, min. 70)
goals 0-1 min. 7: Dzeko. 0-2 min. 10: Mkhitaryan.
Referee Jesus Gil Manzano
Yellow cards Mkhitaryan (min. 46) and Fikayo Tomori (min. 64)
With a 60-meter goal kick that Edin Dzeko controlled behind enemy lines, Inter began to deliver their primitive blow. The Bosnian, who is 37 years old and has scored three goals in Serie A since January, gives an idea of the state of the Interista squad. There is no doubt that Dzeko is the player with the most category of the Inter attack, but the infirmities of his age had delayed him. He looked like a deceased player when Inzaghi, the coach, went looking for him in the crypt so that he could star in the great day of the season to the detriment of Lukaku, the famous tank Belgian. Inzaghi hit the target because Dzeko perfectly interpreted his role as the lone reference point of a team that jumped to the San Siro to speculate and wait.
Milan began the game by pressing indecisively, as if the local condition forced them to take an initiative that they did not want. Inter, without Brozovic to start due to physical problems, did not take risks. Nor was he surprised. When in doubt, he played long. After five minutes, the most rudimentary goal kick imaginable, throwback to the roaring ’90s, gave him a foothold. Dzeko took out oil. Tomori needed him and from that moment Milan lost control of the situation. Inter settled in their field based on catching rejections and causing throw-ins and corners. After a corner kick, Dzeko himself made it 0-1 in the six-yard box, against Calabria’s inane mark.
The goal portrayed the chilling state of Milan’s defense. A bunch of people with problems who have in Fikayo Tomori the most bewildered man of him. Two minutes after 0-1, the Englishman went behind Dzeko and left the central lane unprotected. The widest access route to his goal. There, after a counterattack, Mkhitaryan entered alone, before shooting the Milan goalkeeper to the astonishment of the fans.
What followed were 80 minutes of frustration for Milan, with no creativity in front of Inzaghi’s wall. Last season’s Serie A champion gave an exhibition of impotence on all fronts, a natural consequence of the lack of level of his midfielders and forwards. Neither he knew how to defend, nor did he come out well from the pressure in the rare moments in which he was subjected, nor was he able to generate the slightest danger in the rival goal. Çalhanoğlu hit the post in what could have been 0-3 and Dzeko had a one-on-one with Maignan that was saved by the goalkeeper. The finalist could be decided in 90 minutes. Milan retains minimal hope.
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