© EuroFootball.com
On Friday, due to the Champions League semi-finals, an unusual day for the Italian championship, the one round 34 match - the Milan derby between the clubs "Milan" and "Inter" took place. "Milan" celebrated a victory with a minimal lead and secured the second place in the standings.
1 - 0 69` [1 - 0] Kakhaber Kaladze
Before the match, there were different moods in both camps: the "Inter" team faced a huge wave of criticism after their sensational exit from the Champions League semi-finals, with even the team's goalkeeper Cristiano Zanetti being attacked by angry fans at the airport, while "Milan" entered the Champions League semi-finals after a victory against "Lyon" and prepared for an intriguing duel with "Barcelona."
Since the match against the Spanish club "Villareal" was rescheduled in order to better prepare for the game, the Italian League, which also feared possible incidents, decided to postpone the Milan derby to Big Friday - interestingly, the last time a match was played on a Friday, "Milan" celebrated a stunning victory with a score of 6-0. This time, the "Inter" fans boycotted the match, while the "Milan" fans responded with a poster comparing the failures of the city's neighbors to Dante's "Divine Comedy."
Despite the attack suffered, C.Zanetti started the match, but "Inter" could not count on the injured Juan Sebastian Veron and suspended Julio Ricardo Cruz. "Milan" did not have the injured Jaap Stam and the sick Filippo Inzaghi, rested Andriy Shevchenko returned to the starting lineup, and the team's symbol Paolo Maldini played his 50th derby of his career.
"Inter" started the match aggressively, but in the ninth minute the team's coach Roberto Mancini had to make a forced substitution - veteran defender Sinisa Mihajlovic left the field due to injury and was replaced by Marco Materazzi. Soon after, "Milan" managed to defend against Adriano's strike, Dejan Stankovic missed over the goal, while on the other side of the field Alberto Gilardino's header attempt was inaccurate.
Adriano, who has been widely criticized in recent times, was active in the game and managed to dribble past three opponents and find himself alone against the goalkeeper, but in the end the defenders managed to clear the ball. "Inter" continued to press, and Dida managed to save Stankovic's shot, and Esteban Cambiasso almost repeated the shot.
The tension was rising, and just before the break the referees had to stop Adriano attacking, arguing about an offside, and no penalty was awarded for A.Gilardino's fall in the penalty area. Both teams successfully defended in the tense first half, which ended goalless.
After the break, Clarence Seedorf had a good opportunity, but he slipped and his shot was blocked by "Inter" goalkeeper Julio Cesar with his feet. The formal guests of the match also had a chance to score, when after D. Stankovic's pass, Luis Figo's header missed just beside the goal.
In the second half, "Milan" staged a very dangerous attack - Ivan Cordoba cleared A. Shevchenko's header shot from the goal line, but the ball fell to Kaka, and his shot was saved by goalkeeper J.Cesar with his fingers.
In the 69th minute, "Milan" finally managed to score the first goal after a mistake by M.Materazzi. The "Inter" defender tripped in the penalty area, allowing the opponents to avoid offside, and Kakha Kaladze, free from eight meters, sent the ball into the net with a strong shot.
"Inter" switched to attack and D.Stankovic had two dangerous shots, while a poor clearance by goalkeeper Dida almost resulted in a goal by E.Cambiasso with a header. At the end of the match, "Milan" goalkeeper made another mistake by not catching the ball after a corner, but the opponents did not capitalize on it.
The result did not change, so "Milan" celebrated their 56th victory in the Milan derby since 1930 and the first one "at home" in four years. This victory allowed Carlo Ancelotti's disciples to increase the lead over the third-placed "Inter" to 5 points and reduce the gap from the leader Turin's "Juventus," who will play on Saturday, to 4 points.
