A superb Diego Milito strike is the difference as Inter Milan edge out city rivals AC Milan to reignite their title aspirations at the San Siro on Sunday.
Inter Milan defeated arch-rivals AC Milan 1-0 in the latest edition of the Derby della Madonnina at the San Siro stadium on Sunday. The only goal of the match was converted by prolific Argentine striker Diego Milito in the second half.
With the result, Milan surrendered league leadership to Juventus, while Inter cut the gap at the top of the table to just six points.
Inter started the brighter of the two sides and it seemed that they had taken an early lead when Thiago Motta headed home a right-sided free-kick from Maicon, but the goal was disallowed for a dubious offside infringement.
As the half progressed Milan came more and more into the game, and they began to dominate their opponents with possession-based soccer. But their soccer was much too slow and they could hardly open up the rock-solid Inter defense.
Strikers Alexandre Pato and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were off touch, and they wasted the few opportunities which Milan created. Milan lacked creativity in their game, and this was mainly due to the fact that Dutch midfielder Urby Emanuelson was playing well below his potential.
However, on the stroke of half-time Milan almost went ahead when Pato escaped on a swift run down the right flank, before sending a neat ball to the onrushing Mark van Bommel, who fired the ball onto the crossbar from the edge of the area. Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar did well to push Emanuelson's follow-up away for a corner.
The Rossoneri continued to dominate proceedings in the second period, but surprisingly it was Inter who broke the deadlock, when in the 54th minute Milito found the bottom corner of the net with a superb low shot following a horrendous Ignazio Abate miss-kick after a smart wide pass from Inter captain Javier Zanetti.
Milan were evidently shell-shocked after conceding the goal, and looked rather vulnerable as twice Inter went close to doubling their lead, with venomous long-range efforts from Ricardo Alvarez and Yuto Nagatomo.
Towards the end of the game Milan threw everything that they had at Inter, as they searched for an equaliser, but Pato and substitute Clarence Seedorf missed their two final opportunities.
With the result, defending champions Milan missed out on a glorious opportunity to pull clear at the top of the Serie A standings, while the result revived Inter Milan's title aspirations.
With the result, Milan surrendered league leadership to Juventus, while Inter cut the gap at the top of the table to just six points.
Inter started the brighter of the two sides and it seemed that they had taken an early lead when Thiago Motta headed home a right-sided free-kick from Maicon, but the goal was disallowed for a dubious offside infringement.
As the half progressed Milan came more and more into the game, and they began to dominate their opponents with possession-based soccer. But their soccer was much too slow and they could hardly open up the rock-solid Inter defense.
Strikers Alexandre Pato and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were off touch, and they wasted the few opportunities which Milan created. Milan lacked creativity in their game, and this was mainly due to the fact that Dutch midfielder Urby Emanuelson was playing well below his potential.
However, on the stroke of half-time Milan almost went ahead when Pato escaped on a swift run down the right flank, before sending a neat ball to the onrushing Mark van Bommel, who fired the ball onto the crossbar from the edge of the area. Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar did well to push Emanuelson's follow-up away for a corner.
The Rossoneri continued to dominate proceedings in the second period, but surprisingly it was Inter who broke the deadlock, when in the 54th minute Milito found the bottom corner of the net with a superb low shot following a horrendous Ignazio Abate miss-kick after a smart wide pass from Inter captain Javier Zanetti.
Milan were evidently shell-shocked after conceding the goal, and looked rather vulnerable as twice Inter went close to doubling their lead, with venomous long-range efforts from Ricardo Alvarez and Yuto Nagatomo.
Towards the end of the game Milan threw everything that they had at Inter, as they searched for an equaliser, but Pato and substitute Clarence Seedorf missed their two final opportunities.
With the result, defending champions Milan missed out on a glorious opportunity to pull clear at the top of the Serie A standings, while the result revived Inter Milan's title aspirations.
