Milan have a mountain to climb if they are to reach the Champions League Final, as rivals Inter have a commanding 2-0 first leg lead thanks to early Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan goals, while both sides hit the woodwork.
Rafael Leao failed a fitness test after a muscle strain in the 2-0 win over Lazio, while Edin Dzeko and Hakan Calhanoglu were preferred to Romelu Lukaku and Marcelo Brozovic. The derby had already been a European fixture in 2003 and 2005, the Rossoneri going through both times, but this year the away goals rule was not a factor. The sides met three times already this season, with a win each in Serie A and Inter taking the Supercoppa Italiana 3-0 in January.
It took under eight minutes to break the deadlock, as Inter’s first corner found Edin Dzeko from six yards to hold off Davide Calabria in front of him and wrap a left leg around the defender to volley into the top corner. It was Hakan Calhanoglu’s set play that did the damage against his old club.
Moments later it was 2-0, as Federico Dimarco burst down the left and rolled across for Henrikh Mkhitaryan through the middle, who took a touch and waited for Mike Maignan to go down before blasting into the roof of the net.
It was very nearly 3-0, because Calhanoglu’s thunderous strike from distance smashed against the upright and Mkhitaryan on the rebound forced a save out of Maignan.
To make matters worse, Ismael Bennacer limped off with a right knee problem, so Junior Messias came on and Brahim Diaz moved into the central role.
The referee pointed to the spot for a penalty when Lautaro Martinez turned Simon Kjaer on a throw-in and went down between the Dane and Fikayo Tomori. However, he changed his mind after a VAR on-field review, realising Lautaro had tried to squirm through a gap that wasn’t there and went down.
Brahim Diaz curled just wide from the edge of the box after the restart and Junior Messias fired off target too, while Maignan ran off his line to push a Dzeko finish over the bar when sent one-on-one by Alessandro Bastoni.
Milan were seeing more of the ball as the game wore on and Sandro Tonali’s low drive was deflected onto the upright off Bastoni’s boot from just inside the penalty area after good work from Giroud and Divock Origi.
Malick Thiaw charged down a Matteo Darmian effort after Romelu Lukaku’s run, while a Darmian deflection allowed Andre Onana to smother the Messias shot.
Roberto Gagliardini was sent through by Barella only to take a few too many touches and see the move fall apart, while Onana took the sting out of a powerful but central Tommaso Pobega snapshot.
Milan 0-2 Inter
Dzeko 8 (I), Mkhitaryan 11 (I)
Player statistic
| 8' |  |
Edin Dzeko (Assist: Hakan Calhanoglu) | ||
| 11' | |
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Assist: Federico Dimarco) | ||
| Rade Krunic |  |
45+1' | ||
| 45+1' | |
Henrikh Mkhitaryan |
| Fikayo Tomori | |
64' |
Match statistic
Next leg will be 4-0 to Inter.