Inter Milan overpowered AC Milan early and held on to win the first leg of their Champions League semifinal derby 2-0, leaving the Nerazzurri on the brink of a return to European football’s showpiece event for the first time since 2010.
Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored two goals in three minutes to put Inter firmly in command, and the visitors could have added more in a dominant first-half performance in the match on Wednesday.
The second leg is on Tuesday. The winner will face either Real Madrid or Man City, who drew their first leg 1-1.
Milan was missing key forward Rafael Leao, who had not fully recovered from a thigh injury sustained over the weekend.
There was an electric atmosphere at San Siro for the semifinal that had been dubbed the “Euroderby” in Italy.
The match was expected to be cagey and tight, but Inter got off to the perfect start as they took the lead in the eighth minute. Hakan Calhanoglu whipped in a corner from the left and Dzeko managed to get in front of Davide Calabria to hook a volley into the top right corner.
And Inter doubled its lead just three minutes later. Federico Dimarco’s low pass was wisely left by Lautaro Martinez for Mkhitaryan to lift over Mike Maignan.
Milan had only conceded one goal in its past six Champions League matches.
Incredibly, Inter almost scored a third five minutes later, but Calhanoglu’s long-range effort came off the right post.
The Milan players were shellshocked but eventually managed to compose themselves and had their first attempt at a goal on the half-hour mark, but Calabria hit the side netting.
Seconds later, Inter was awarded a penalty for a foul by Simon Kjaer on Martinez, but the referee revoked his decision after reviewing the incident on the pitch-side monitor.
Milan improved after the break and was shooting towards the end packed with its fans, in a sea of red and black.
The Rossoneri should have pulled one back in the 63rd minute, but Sandro Tonali’s effort came off the base of the left post.
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies