The roar of Inter. The Nerazzurri take the Milan derby and fly solo to the top of the standings, with full points. A great left foot from Guarin in the middle of the second half was decisive, giving Mancini a very heavy success and leaving Mihajlovic with the typical bitterness of defeat. Inter promoted, Milan postponed: speaking of a rejection, in fact, would be too excessive.
The derby of San Siro lived on the edge of balance, with two teams capable of challenging each other openly and at a much higher pace than the (sad) recent past. Matches like this are decided with episodes or with individual exploits and while the Rossoneri soloists have not managed to find the winning twist, the Nerazzurri have been able to exploit the right opportunity.
“We are only at the beginning of the season and there is still a lot to do to be at the top – said Mancini. – However it was important to win even if you can't look at the standings yet. In 10, 12 or maybe 15 games, the true values of the championship will be understood, we must improve and be ready."
The coach from Jesi chose the low profile, aware that the path to glory is still very long. Certainly, however, that Inter convinces more and more. The new signings are working well (Felipe Melo promoted, Perisic to be reviewed), the bench is long and the tactical moves are proving to be spot on.
Mancio, forced to give up on Miranda, chooses to focus on Medel in defense, thus drawing inspiration from what is already happening in the Chilean national team (albeit in a three-way line), launches Felipe Melo in the midfield with Kondogbia and Guarin on the sides, asks Perisic to play as an attacking midfielder so as not to distort the work done so far, he relies on the certainties of Icardi and Jovetic in attack.
News also at Milan, especially in midfield: Mihajlovic leaves De Jong on the bench, entrusts the control room to Montolivo in a three-way line with Bonaventura and Kucka, in support of an attacking trident in which Honda acts behind Bacca and Luiz Adriano.
It is precisely Milan that have the first goal: Murillo gives the ball to Bacca, the Colombian serves his department partner in space but Handanovic blocks great (3'). Inter reacted with a shot from distance by Jovetic, the Rossoneri tried again with Luiz Adriano. The match is beautiful and intense, the teams face off with intelligence and quality, entertaining the 80 at San Siro.
Towards the end of the first half, Inter had two more important chances: Jovetic nearly scored from distance (39'), Icardi was stopped brilliantly by Diego Lopez (46'). The recovery continues under the sign of balance, waiting for one of the actors to decide to stand up as the protagonist. The role is taken by Guarin, who slips in the Rossoneri goal from distance with a left foot that deserves applause (58').
Mihajlovic decides to drop the Balotelli card and the move, albeit with some perplexities (because Bacca and not Honda are out), risks paying a lot. Supermario comes on highly motivated and comes close to equalizing on two occasions, first with a great right foot from outside the area that hits the post (78'), then with a free-kick that forces Handanovic to make the most difficult save of the evening (82'). This is the last thrill of a derby at the height of the football ladder, which therefore ends up tinged with Nerazzurri.
“There is disappointment because we didn't deserve to lose – Mihajlovic thought. – It's clear that the result is the most important thing, but tonight I found my team again and I'm convinced that by playing like this there will be several victories”.
In the meantime, however, Milan navigates the murky waters of the mid-table, minus 6 behind Inter leaders and with several top-level teams ahead (above all Rome, Lazio and Fiorentina). We're only on matchday three, all right, but in the meantime the dawn of the championship is tinged with Nerazzurri. And this, even with all the variations of the case, can already mean something important.
