Inter outclass rivals in Champions League Milan derby

Photo: Stephen Gormley (Red Eye Photo Agency)

Inter Milan secured a convincing 2-0 first leg “away” victory against neighbours AC Milan in the first leg of the Champions League Semi Final.

The atmosphere inside the famous Stadio Giuseppe Meazza (aka the San Sir) was red hot with 75,000 Milanese fans packed inside. The majority of the fans were dressed in the famous red and black from AC Milan, given their status as home team in the first leg.

However it was Inter who came flying out of the blocks. They went at AC and were ahead inside just eight minutes with the forgotten man Edin Džeko rolling back the years. The 37-year old popped up in the box to put Inter 1-0 up with a powerful side-foot volley following a corner kick.

Before AC had time to recover, Henrikh Mkhitaryan made it 2-0 for Inter inside 11 minutes. Inter broke forward at pace and ex Man United player side-footed into the net after breaking into the box and finding himself one on one with the keeper.

Just four minutes later it could have been all over as Hakan Calhanoglu hit a blistering 20-yard shot towards goal. Luckily however for Milan the shot smashed off the post. VAR then came to AC Milan’s aid after forcing the referee to reverse his decision to give Inter a penalty. AC Milan were very grateful to go into the break with no further damage done after a tortuous first half for them.

AC looked stronger in the second half and were unfortunate not to get a goal back after hitting the post. However Inter still had their chances to kill the contest with Džeko forcing a great save from the AC keeper after finding himself through one on one.

Inter look strong favourites to advance to their first Champions League Final since 2010 as they host their neighbours next week in the same stadium in the second leg with a commanding 2-0 lead in the tie.