Inter Register Comfortable Win In Milan Derby

Inter register comfortable win in Milan Derby (Image Source: IANS)

UEFA Champions League:  Inter Milan continued their sensational run as they won the Derby della Madonnina by humiliating AC Milan 5-1 thanks to goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marcus Thuram, Hakan Calhanoglu and Davide Frattesi.

Inter Milan had won all the four previous meetings in the Supercoppa Italiana, Serie A, and UEFA Champions League. Both teams entered San Siro with fine forms on Saturday as the two sides kept perfect records since the start of the new season, with Inter leading the table by virtue of a superior goal-difference, reports Xinhua.

Simon Kjaer got a rare start in AC Milan's defence with Fikayo Tomori's suspension and Pierre Kalulu's injury, while Inter Milan had a relatively full squad as Italy's hero during the international break Frattesi was benched again while Lautaro Martinez paired up with Thuram upfront.

Inter Milan took a dream start just under five minutes into the game, when Thuram rolled across for Federico Dimarco from the by-line, and the full-back's strike turned out to be an assist for Mkhitaryan to redirect into the net.

Mkhitaryan had the chance to double the lead minutes later, but the Armenian saw his header wide of the post while at the other end Theo Hernandez surged into the box but only to see his attempt inches wide.

The Nerazzurri extended the lead in the 38th minute in an electric fashion when Denzel Dumfries over-hit his pass for Thuram, but the Frenchman gathered the ball and got past Malick Thiaw to release a blockbuster that went beyond a helpless Mike Maignan.

AC Milan pulled one goal back in the 57th minute when Olivier Giroud's inspirational pass found Rafael Leao who out-paced Matteo Darmian to slot home.

As the Rossoneri just breathed a life back, Inter Milan restored the two-goal margin as Lautaro assisted for Mkhitaryan to hit in a deflected strike, leaving Maignan rooted to the spot.

In a desperate bid to avoid a defeat, AC Milan threw on three players trying to overturn the tide, however, their city rivals shattered the hopes when Calhanoglu converted a penalty earned by Lautaro, before Frattesi came off the bench to put the icing on the cake in the dying minutes.

In an earlier fixture on Saturday, Juventus dominated Lazio 3-1. Manuel Locatelli set up Dusan Vlahovic to open the scoring in the 10th minute before Federico Chiesa put the Old Lady firmly in charge by firing home a left-footed strike.

Despite Juve's wayward pass that allowed Luis Alberto to curl into the net in the 64th minute, Vlahovic bagged his brace three minutes later as Weston McKennie's long pass found the Serbian whose nice first tough let him commit two defenders to finish with a scorcher.

The win, coupled with AC Milan's fiasco, lifted Juve to second place with 10 points, two behind Inter Milan.

Elsewhere, the Serie A defending champion Napoli fought back from 2-0 down to snatch one point after a 2-2 tie against Genoa.