The Dark Night Rises Lautaro settles Milan Derby #1679

Inter Milan 1 AC Milan 0FT

On Sunday night, It was the reintroduction of the Milan Derby. Between Inter Milan and AC Milan. They are the last two champions. As we look at the way things have gone thus far. It is likely that only one of these teams will qualify for the champions league. AC Milan managed to win the first meeting between them in a 3-2 victory early in the season. Inter Milan severely outclassed AC Milan in the Super Cup in Saudi Arabia with a very easy routine 3-0 victory. This was going to be the third match between them. Inter Milan, while impressive, has not been able to match their peak performance regularly as they are often been carried on the back of the Martinez. Meanwhile, AC Milan has all sorts of issues that is riddled and dysfunctional, and coming into the match on Sunday winless in their last six. Roma took a trip to Milan about a month ago and managed to overturn a two-goal deficit in 10 minutes. AC Milan has not been the same since. The Milan Derby is one of the most historically competitive events in Italian football culture. Is Milan blue or red? We were going to find out as the third meeting of the Milan Derby was about to take place on Sunday night at the Giuseppe Mezza.

As kickoff approached, the big team news from AC Milan was the exclusion of Rafael Leao. Simone Inzagi's side remains the usual suspect. Dzeko and Martinez once again, as a tandem up top. Inter Milan's midfield is almost identical, with the exception of Mkhitaryan starting. Martinez wearing the armband for the derby. From the very first kick of the game. There was a sense of superiority from the blue side of Milan. They carried most of the momentum and confidence with them. They moved it extremely well, doing a brilliant job in transitioning into Milan's attacking spaces. In the second minute, Bastoni links up with Martinez as he stings it from deep the right idea but a little too much on it. This would only galvanize Inter Milan even further. In the 6th minute, Martinez came incredibly close. Miki sends Martinez a ball inside the box Inter Milan's difference maker launches it toward the left corner, and the goalkeeper get a touch pushing it over. However, big alarm bells rang for AC Milan as they were put under pressure yet again. 2 minutes later, Inter Milan is in there again. This time Martinez is the one supplying Hakan, but the Turkish international mismanages his touch from distance. AC. Milan couldn't do anything. Watching the events. Unravel there was a clear distance between the two sides. Well, the red side of Milan may hold the lead title for now. The contents of the squad are miles apart. Inter Milan or viciously breaking them down with no reply. In the 10th minute, Martinez came close again. Skrinar delivers a ball into the box to find Martinez again. The Argentine World Cup winner puts his head through, coming very close, but it hooks to the right. Not quite finding the corner. Controversy hit in the 13th minute. Inter Milan, was already running circles around their rivals in red. However, they should have had an opportunity from the penalty spot that was not given. Martinez supplies a small touch in the 13th minute right at the edge of the box. Dzeko comes through as he is pushed to the ground. The Bosnian puts his arms up asking for a call to be made. They did not consult with VAR, and it was not looked at. The referee waved it off and stuck with his decision. It was a situation that certainly should have been a penalty. As Milan potentially bailed out the way the match was going. It just kept that sort of energy. In the 29th minute, Hakan finds Skrianar with a free kick the Slovakian international gets his head on it but can't cash in as of yet. There was a sense that it was coming though Inter Milan didn't have to weigh much longer. In the 34th minute, the moment arrived. Former AC Milan player Hakan getting whistled at by the fans at the corner flag as he was preparing to send it in. He then sends it in, and who would get on the end of it? Of course, you guessed it Latauro Martinez He flies through the air sending it into the bottom corner to give Inter Milan a 1-0 lead. Latauro Martinez has been carrying Inter Milan all season. He has stepped up in the big moments when he's needed to. This is his team. He is the captain of this ship and, on the night, happens to be wearing the armband. It would be the 15th goal of the season for Martinez as Inter Milan find themselves in a deserving lead. A few minutes later, in the 38th minute, Dzeko tries something from outside the box, but his attempt is blocked by the Milan defense. This would signify the end of the first half with Inter Milan running away. It may just be a narrow lead at the moment, but they are night and day in comparison to AC Milan which seems lost in the derby through 45 minutes.

In that first half, AC Milan we're an absolute mess. They did absolutely nothing throughout while watching Inter Milan pulverize them. It may just be a one-goal advantage, and there might be a way back in, but Inter Milan was running circles around them. They had no prayer against an inter-Milan team making light work of the derpy yet again. AC Milan brought on Diaz to replaceJunior messias to try to kick start something in the second half. It wasn't going according to plan. Inter Milan, as the second half started, still looks like a different level to the AC Milan counterparts. The issues of AC Milan are a long list of things, but the way to fix them is clear, yet AC Milan continues to ignore the obvious. And each week, each day, each minute, it is costing them. In the 54th minute, Federico DeMarco came close as he collected the ball from the side of the box before trying to hit it into the corner. Didn't have enough on it to get there, but AC Milan is under that pressure again, with only small formalities keeping them in the game. A little while later in the 55th minute it was Martinez again looking for his second. He puts his foot through a Dzeko cross, but the goalkeeper manages to save it. AC. Milan, we're basically being left for dead, even though it was just a one-goal difference. They have absolutely ripped apart. However, they managed to muster up a pair of chances, but it didn't come off with them in the 58th minute. Olivier Giroud put his head through a Theo Hernandez cross but can't quite locate the target. Then again, in the 69th minute, it was Hernandez with a wild finish off a free kick. Both teams went to the bench. AC Milan brought on Thaiw, while Inter Milan brought on Brozovic, Gosens, and Lukaku. Inter Milan, at this point, we're in total cruise control. They very well could have scored more than they did, but they were not being threatened by the Milan attack. Onana had very little to do, if anything. Late on in the 75th minute. Diaz came close but misses the mark after being put in by Rafael Leal. Controversy hit Inter Milan twice in the final 10 minutes. In the 83rd minute, Lukaku is manhandled in the box by the defender before slotting and striking into the back of the net. However, it was not given for reasons that are still unclear. There was a foul by AC Milan in the buildup. However, an advantage seemed to be played, but then after the goal went in, it wasn't counted. truly an absurd decision. Then in the 89th minute, it looks like Martinez got himself a second. However, after a VAR review, it was chopped off. It was as close as it gets looking at the replay. The only part of his body that is offside because his arm and the only reason the goal didn't stand is that he was asking for the ball. The goal was taken away, and by the letter of the law, it is correct. But I still don't like those sorts of decisions. That was the ending of the game as the referee blew the whistle at full time with Inter Milan absolutely humiliating AC Milan again, who put together. Their worst performance of the season. The red side of Milan is now winless in the last seven. Meanwhile, for Inter Milan, Latauro Martinez Batman comes up big with a critical goal again as Inter Milan wins again on the back of his brilliance. The derby is one by the blue of Milan.

There is absolutely no comparison between Inter Milan and AC. Milan. AC Milan came up and delivered when they need to. Last season that is the big reason that they won the league. The only thing that prevented Inter Milan from winning it again was consistency and winning and tangibles. It is the only thing that stood in their way. The quality between the two sides is not even close. Napoli is obviously going to win the league. However, the squad with the best personnel is Inter Milan. Empoli managed to beat Inter Milan a few weeks ago. As there are still slight consistency issues there. However, this is the second time they have beaten the brakes off AC Milan, and they are feeding through a three-game winning streak two in a row in the league. Throughout the 90 minutes, Inter Milan always wears control. There was a very obvious superiority in the team. AC. Milan is very fortunate. It wasn't worse than it was. AC Milan collectively could not have played any worse. They didn't have one shot on target the entire duration of the match. This is the second derby they have lost in a row. Now. Superiority may not mean the same thing as it is in Rome, but there is still some intrinsic value from it. They are both fighting in that Champions League race. Inter Milan understands that they're not going to win the league. However, they want to finish as high as possible they can. If they don’twin the league, they want to finish second. They are on pace to do so. They are three points ahead of Roma in third and four points ahead of Lazio in 4th. If they put their ground to the nose and continue to try to build off performances like this. They won't find a way to finish as runners-up. It was Lautaro Martinez as the hero. Again. I like to call him Batman. The reason being there's been a lot of debate over the years and regards to whose team this actually is. Many believed it was lukaku's, but I never shared that belief. Martinez has been the biggest difference maker on Inter Milan and is always delivering on the big stage when Inter Milan needs him. There have been so many times this season where they have not played well, but he has found that goal for them. There may not be a more valuable player to a team other than perhaps Dybala with Roma. They play through him. They operate through what he does. He got a lot of criticism for missing some chances in the world cup. However, with Inter Milan he has been the definition of consistency. He has taken this team on his back so many times. In another big game like this one, he ends up winning it for his team. 15 goals this season 7 assists this season. He's making an argument for a player of the season case. Now, I think we all know by now that the player of the season is Kvaratskhelia and it's probably not all that close. However, Martinez is positioning himself that he is among the top three. At least. He is capable of being the guy for an inter Milan team to win the league again. Now that has to do with other things and the team needs to put together aside that can do this but with him leading the line along with Dzeko who been brilliant together. They are capable of big things. The Champions League is right around the corner and Inter Milan have what it takes to go on them. Deep run and get some respect back on Italian football in Europe. A header that settles it from him and then another goal that was disallowed. Inter Milan were absolutely hosed by the officials and still made AC Milan look horrendous. It was a masterpiece that they dropped despite what we have seen from Inter Milan at different points of the season. This was a true masterpiece. Inter Milan need to take this momentum and assess that into the other performances against lesser teams. If they can keep this type of energy they can have an incredible season for themselves still. For AC Milan this is their seventh game without a victory. They are completely demoralized with no confidence whatsoever. They may be dealing with some injuries but they have been truly horrendous since the restart. AC Milan looked like the best team in the league for 70 minutes against Roma. Roma overturned them at home to get a point and AC Milan have not been the same. Barely survive against leche, knocked out of the cup by Torino, humiliated by Lazio and now humiliated by Inter Milan. Again, it comes back to the same two things. Maldini did not bring in the appropriate pieces for AC Milan to legitimately challenge with the title and secondly they bought a striker that scored 21 goals last season 40 million. They have not played him at strike or once this season. King Charles would be doing the business up top but Stefano pioli continues to play him out of position. They're just a huge dysfunctional mass. If we're being honest, they stink. They currently are sitting outside of the top four sitting in sixth place. Their season is done for. They would need something drastic for things to change. This team will not make the champions league. They come up against Inter Milan and just embarrass themselves against their bid arrivals in the derpy. Absolutely ripped apart by the Tara Martinez in company. But taro delivers again for Inter Milan only adding gas to the fire. That's imploding on the red side of the city.