Key events
56 min: The camera pans to a young and tearful Milan fan. Musah wins a corner out on the right for tonight’s hosts.
54 min: The lively Dimarco drifts into the middle from the left before playing the ball to Martínez, who is squeezed away from causing danger by a flock of Milan shirts.
52 min: Giroud enters the game, replacing Reijnders. Just before that, the unbeatable Sommer denied Hernández with another decent stop.
GOAL! Milan 0-2 Internazionale (Thuram 49)
The title will be won tonight. Bastoni punts the ball down the left for Thuram to chase. He gets there, holds it up, and tries to play it to Mkhitaryan, but the ball bobbles back to him. He cuts inside and, with Milan unable to close him down, sends in a low shot past Maignan’s right. Inter are very nearly there.
48 min: Calabria has a bit of space on the right and tries to lace a ball in for Leão to chase, but it’s comfortably intercepted.
46 min: No changes for either side yet, so our man Olivier continues his waiting game.
Peep again!
Inter get things moving again.
I should’ve added, of course, that the goalscorer Acerbi is an ex-Milan man, having spent half a season there over a decade ago.
“Inter have been excellent but Milan,” writes Colum Fordham, “especially the ultra dynamic Leao, have the wherewithal to postpone the celebration of Inter’s inevitable scudetto triumph. And this would be particularly amusing for neutrals (I speak as a fan of Napoli who won it last year). And I’ll be able to rib the odd Neapolitan friend who perversely supports Inter.”
“No one should be allowed to celebrate a title in April, so I’m with the Mee-lan tifosi on this one. I hope they beat Eenter and delay the seemingly inevitable black and blue parade,” writes Peter Oh.
“Stoke City and West Ham United fans will probably want to see Marko Arnautovic make an appearance off the substitutes bench. I’m neither a Potter nor a Hammer but am intrigued by mercurial strikers who have managed to mature with age.”
As am I, Peter. Which is why I wanna see Olivier do his thing for AC.
Not the most thrilling 45 minutes I’ve been a witness to, not that Inter will care. They’ve maintained control, nicked a set-piece goal and hardly been threatened inside their own area. When they have, Sommer has come to the fore. Surely Milan must summon this man …
HALF-TIME: Milan 0-1 Internazionale
Inter are one half of football away from being champions of Italy for the 20th time.
45+1 min: Inter work it brilliantly down the left through Dimarco but when he cuts into the middle he’s met with a thuderous sliding challenge. While he appeals for a foul, Milan counter and Leão is nearly in on goal … until Pavard delivers a delicious tackle of his own.
43 min: That save from Sommer a few minutes ago was a fine reflex effort to deny Calabria, by the way.
40 min: A terrific save from Sommer to his left sets up an Inter break that ends with a stinging Mkhitaryan shot, met by the strong hands of Maignan. For just a brief passage, this thing turned all basketball.
38 min: Very nearly 2-0. Thuram plays the ball to Barella inside the box on the left, who plays it back to the forward in the middle. Thuram tries to find the bottom right corner, and really should, but sends it wide.
37 min: Dimarco fires his shot in to the wall after a layoff from Calhanoglu.
36 min: Barella thrusts forward and is taken down by Hernández, who gets a yellow. Inter have a free-kick from centre-right, shooting range.
35 min: Inter seem content with a game that lacks much zest, maintaining a solid shape when off the ball and unthreatened by any crosses that come into the middle.
33 min: A reminder to the uninitiated that Inter’s manager is Simone Inzaghi, brother of a Milan legend: Pippo, he who won them the Champions League 17 years ago.
32 min: Milan have a sustained period on the ball but a lofted ball in to the box causes Inter little consternation. Martínez goes into the book for a high foot that hurts Tomori.
29 min: Milan break with Musah, who plays in Leão inside the box. One-on-one with Acerbi, he shifts the ball on to his left foot before firing in a low shot. But Sommer is down quick and able to make what is, in the end, a comfortable save.
27 min: Leão wins Milan a corner after picking up the ball in the left channel … Adli delivers, Loftus-Cheek flicks on at the near post, but the ball finds its way back to Adli on the left. He tries to send the ball back in to the mixer but Calhanoglu does well to stop him.
25 min: Hernández cuts loose, driving from the left into the middle of the pitch, but loses it – and Inter break. Dimarco thunders forward, receives again inside the box after a delightful little flick from Thuram, and the low cross in from the left finds Martínez, who somehow doesn’t nab his 24th league goal of the season, firing high and wide from not far out.
23 min: Barella is the first man in the book for an awry challenge.
22 min: And now a free-kick for Inter from the right-hand side, Di Marco ready to whip in … and the cross turns into a shot, briefly threatening Maignan, who collected on his second go.
GOAL! Milan 0-1 Internazionale (Acerbi 18)
And the incoming champions lead. The corner comes in from Dimarco, the ball is flicked on at the front post, and Acerbi is waiting in the middle, unmarked, to head in comfortably from close range. Poor defensive work from Milan; clinical from Inter.
17 min: Thuram runs in behind and picks up the ball inside the box, twisting and turning before his low cross is dealt with by Tomori. Corner to Inter …
17 min: The corner goes short before Dimarco curls the ball in from the right … Maignan collects confidently.
16 min: A corner for Inter after Barella gets a ball in the box to Thuram, before Milan just about to deal with.
14 min: Gabbia fends off Thuram after a punt down Inter’s right wing. Milan then attack down their own right, with a bit of pinball inside the box preceding an effort from range by Hernández. The adventurous full-back’s shot is miles wide.
12 min: Hernández tries to dink over a ball for Loftus-Cheek to race on to. Milan begin to patiently move it from left to right, back and forth before Musah tries to create something … his cross from the right-hand side is far too deep, though, travelling out for a throw.
8 min: And we have our first sort-of fight! Hernández brings down Barella and both sides form a brief kerfuffle. All rather unnecessary but part of derby day.
7 min: A first decent move from Inter, with Darmian laying off a cross from the left for Martínez to hit first-time from just inside the box. It doesn’t threaten the net, however.
6 min: All rather quiet at the moment, a scrappy opening to this colossal fixture.
5 min: Leão is leading the line for Milan by the way, positioned centrally instead of out wide.
4 min: Martínez tries to slide in a ball to Thuram but the Inter forward is sandwiched by Milan shirts.
2 min: Pavard slides in with an interception to stop Leão racing down the left.
1 min: The ball is recycled back to Maignan in goal, before Milan try their luck with a punt down the left.
Peeeep!
Milan get things going, kicking from right to left on your screens. Let’s play!
OK then, the players are leaving the tunnel, all set to grace the San Siro field. Sort your snacks.
Finding this video of a moving bus, with the chosen music, quite amusing.
Here’s a little something to get you in the mood. Up top is that classic shot of Rui Costa and Marco Materazzi taking in the flares.
As an aside, I just want to say I very much enjoyed this on Nottingham Forest’s temper tantrum.
Milan make two changes from the starting XI that were eliminated from the Europa League last week by Roma: Olivier Giroud and Ismaël Bennacer are out; Yacine Adli and Tijjani Reijnders are in. Inter also make two changes from their last game, a 2-2 draw to Cagliari: in come World Cup winners Benjamin Pavard (class of 2018) and Lautaro Martínez (2022), with Yann Aurel Bisseck and Alexis Sánchez the men replaced.
The teams
Here’s how they’re looking.
Preamble
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to a potential shift in history. Yes, this is no regular Derby della Madonnina. Victory will give Inter their 20th league title, moving them ahead of Milan on the Scudetto list (with Juventus sitting comfortably up top with a whopping 36). The men in blue and black are 14 points ahead of their second-placed rivals, and the only possible joy available to Messrs Giroud, Loftus-Cheek, Tomori, Pulisic (the Milanese Blues) and co is to delay the victory parade.
Powered at one end by the goals of Lautaro Martínez (23), and at the other by the clean sheets of Yann Sommer (17), Inter have lost just once in Serie A this season and that was back in September to Sassuolo. This is their title to collect, and how sweet it would be for the coronation to coincide with a sixth consecutive win over the Rossoneri. Regardless of the result, this should be rather fun. Kick-off’s at 7.45pm BST.
