The celebration of Inter (photo: ANSA)
(ANSA) – MILAN, 10 MAG – Inter, with goals from Bosnian Edin Dzeko and Armenian Henrikh Mkhitaryan, beat Milan 2-0 as a visitor in the first leg of their “Champions League” semifinal, whose rematch will take place on Tuesday 16 also at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium.
Dzeko opened the scoring in the 8th minute by anticipating Davide Massa’s corner from the left, while Mkhitaryan increased the lead three minutes later with a fine finish after a distraction from the Milan defence.
The “neroazzurro” team of DT Simone Inzaghi, who had thrashed Milan 3-0 in the Italian Super Cup final, sealed the victory in the first minutes of the game played in a Giuseppe Meazza stadium packed with 75,532 thousand people.
The presence of these “tifosi” registered the record collection of 10,461,705 euros, an amount that exceeded the 9,133,842 euros of the duel that Milan played against Tottenham for the round of 16 of the “Champions” and represented the maximum for the history of the “Calcium”.
Among those present were the Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic, number 1 in the world, his Italian colleague Matteo Berrettini (20), Frenchman Pierre Gasly, Formula 1 driver, his “azzurro” colleague Antonio Giovinazzi, the local TV presenter Melissa Satta and the artist Elettra Lamborghini.
Inter, who fielded the Argentine Lautaro Martínez, replaced at 78′ by his compatriot Joaquín Correa, surprised with a dominance in the first minutes of the game in which he was even able to score more goals.
Lautaro Martínez and Calabria donated their captains’ bracelets for a charity auction for Unicef that will also include autographed shirts of the stars of the “Derby della Madonnina”.
All the proceeds will be destined by Unicef to support the emergency generated by the earthquake that caused more than 50,000 deaths in southern Turkey and Syria last February.
Lautaro Martínez started Dzeko, who at 37 years and 54 days, and Mkhitaryan (34 and 109) made Inter the first team to have two scorers over 34 years of age in a knockout phase match of the ” Champions”.
Milan’s attack, which should have included the Brazilian Júnior Messias at 18′ by the Algerian Ismael Bennacer (injured), was clearly weakened by the absence of the Portuguese Rafael Leao, excluded from the squad due to an injury he suffered in the win against Lazio for date 34 of Serie A.
The red and black team of DT Stefano Pioli only reacted in the complement and generated their best chance at 63′, when Sandro Tonali crashed a right hand against a post before the gaze of the Cameroonian goalkeeper André Onana.
Milan, dethroned by Napoli as Serie A champion, will have to reverse their fall in the rematch as a visitor also at the Giuseppe Meazza to try to qualify for the final in Istanbul that will allow Italy to reconquer a trophy that has been missing in the country since the 2009 season -10.
On that occasion, Inter was the continental champion, while Juventus was the last Italian protagonist in the final of the most important club tournament in Europe in the definition of the 2016-17 season, when they fell to Real Madrid.
Instead, you have to go back to the 2006-07 edition to see Milan’s last continental crown, which also remains the Italian team with the most titles (7), only behind Real Madrid (14).
Milan will bet on the history of the “Derby della Madonnina” in the “Champions”, since they already eliminated Inter in the semifinals of the 2002-03 season and in the quarterfinals of the 2004-05 edition.
Precisely Real Madrid and Manchester City tied 1-1 in the first leg of the other semifinal of the tournament, whose rematch will be played on Wednesday 17, when the second protagonist of the final scheduled for Saturday 10 June will be known.
Only the capital of Spain, thanks to the “merengue” team and Atlético Madrid, is the only city with more presences (20) in the final of the “Champions” than Milan (18), although Inter was only crowned three times. (ANSA).
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. © COPYRIGHT ANSA
2023-05-11 03:40:19
#Inter #ahead #Milan #Sports
