Serie A | Inter 0-1 AC Milan: Pulisic and Maignan magic decisive for derby

AC Milan stunned city rivals Inter to win the Derby della Madonnina with a Christian Pulisic counter-attack and Mike Maignan’s penalty save on Hakan Calhanoglu, going joint second.

This was a head-to-head for the top spots as well as a bitter local rivalry. Denzel Dumfries and Henrikh Mkhitaryan missed out, but Marcus Thuram made his first start since September 30 and Carlos Augusto was shuffled over to the right flank. Max Allegri’s last Derby della Madonnina was in 2013, but he had to do without Santiago Gimenez and Zachary Athekame, welcoming back Christian Pulisic, Adrien Rabiot and Fikayo Tomori to the starting XI after injuries.

As part of the campaign on violence against women, all the players in Serie A this weekend wore red marks on their cheeks.

This was no ordinary derby, as it was also the first here since Inter and AC Milan purchased the land around San Siro, meaning they owned the stadium and could begin building the new arena.

See how it all happened on the Liveblog.

Inter had a huge chance in the fourth minute with Thuram’s diving header on a Federico Dimarco cross, palmed away with one glove by Mike Maignan at the near bottom corner.

They came even closer on 27 minutes, as Francesco Acerbi nodded a Hakan Calhanoglu corner onto the frame of the goal with Maignan beaten.

The Nerazzurri continued to have the best scoring opportunities, as Thuram knocked down a cross for the Lautaro Martinez volley from 13 yards, which Maignan pushed onto the upright with one strong glove.

Alexis Saelemaekers fired over from the edge of the area, while Pulisic surged forward to bend his finish inches wide of the far post.

Just as Inter were pouring forward, Milan struck on the counter-attack to take the lead. Youssouf Fofana robbed Calhanoglu in midfield to spark the move, Saelemaekers slipped when taking the shot, so Yann Sommer at full stretch only palmed it into the path of Pulisic to turn in the rebound from close range.

The goal from Christian Pulisic that put Milan ahead against Inter 🤩

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Alessandro Bastoni fired over under pressure from Luka Modric, but Strahinja Pavlovic caught Thuram’s foot after he had crossed the ball. A penalty was awarded following the VAR On-Field Review, so Calhanoglu stepped up and saw his spot-kick saved by Maignan with one hand.

A Nicolò Barella corner was flicked on to the back post, where Manuel Akanji couldn’t bundle it in, while Andy Diouf’s strike from distance was straight at Maignan and Ange-Yoan Bonny ballooned over from the edge of the box.

Saved penalty: Calhanoglu 74 (I)