Inter, with Argentine Lautaro Martínez among its starters, imposed its hierarchy to defeat Milan 2-0 on the road in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinals played at the San Siro stadium.
The team led by Stefano Pioli, had a lethal initial half hour, to such an extent that in that strip they were able to score the two goals that gave them the victory from conversions from the Bosnian Edin Dzeko and the Armenian Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Milan could never react and in the second half both teams got stuck, but the “rossonero” had no reaction and they lacked names to have elements with which to turn the result around.
Inter went out to eat the field with the idea of giving quick knockout blows. Those led by Simone Inzaghi had many actions, they were forceful with the projection of their midfielders and a great job by Dzeko and Lautaro Martínez.
After 7 minutes, Inter had a very well executed corner by Calhanoglu, and the ball went to the foot of Dzeko, who was fighting with Calabria, and despite that, he took the air and introduced it into the goal, leaving no reaction. to Maignan.
A couple of minutes later Dimarco overflowed to the left of the “neroazzurro” attack and sent a cross back, Mkhitaryan took it and entered the area with the ball dominated and defined without getting nervous before the French goalkeeper left.
After 12 minutes, Inter was up 2-0, a result that was not included in even the most optimistic of forecasts, and those led by Stefano Pioli just had to stay focused, while the cameras gloated over the face of Yonghong Li, the Chinese businessman Milan owner.
A few minutes later and with a non-existent presence and work from the Milan midfielders, Inter had another good collective arrival, which culminated in a shot from Calhanoglu that hit the post and did not go in.
On top of that, Stéfano Pioli had to make a change due to an injury to the Algerian Bennacer and sent the Brazilian Junior Messias to the field, a veteran of Italian promotion teams such as Crottone, Gozzano and Casale.
Inter gave up the initiative, fell back a few meters and left Lautaro Martínez and Dzeko for the counterattack, plus projections from their full-backs. And so a play came at 30, where the Argentine “Bull” entered the area with the ball dominated, getting rid of players, and fell, the Spanish referee Jesús Gil Manzano charged a penalty, but checked it in the VAR and annulled his initial decision.
Each Inter attack carried a high dose of goal danger, against a Milan without hierarchy, except for the exceptions of Olivier Guiroud and Theo Hernández, and with the dangerous Portuguese player Rafael Leao injured. Surely Brahim Díaz, when he returns to Real Madrid, will find a well-supported base to project himself more seriously at an international level.
In the second half, Inter fell back a few meters and gave the ball to Milan, who had the problem that Brahim Díaz was heavily guarded and that made the “rossonero” lack creativity and imagination.
Pioli made changes, while those led by Simone Inzaghi continued to represent a latent goal danger with their counterattacks, the mobility of Lautaro and that of Dzeko, who also dropped to act as a midfielder and point guard.
As the minutes went by, this became a sentence for the “rossonero”, who limited himself to throwing balls at Giroud, turned into a solitary warrior, so that he would fight it and could reach Onana.
As the last 15 minutes passed, the match took on the rhythm of an old match in the Italian League between two teams that did not take risks and played “catenaccio”, since the ball went from three quarters to three quarters, without anything will force both teams to visit the rival area.
The victory was in the hands of Inter and by an interesting difference, while Milan must work hard to be able to present a force that allows them to turn the score around in the rematch next Tuesday in the same scenario today, although on that occasion instead from San Siro will be called Giuseppe Meazza.
