Inter beat city rivals AC Milan 1-0 in front of a sellout crowd at the San Siro to move top of Serie A on Sunday, as Mario Balotelli failed to make an immediate impact against his old club on his second debut for the Rossoneri.
“It was a bit of a strange derby as it’s only the third round, the teams aren’t at their best yet,” Inter coach Roberto Mancini said. “We had character and we made the most of the few chances we got.”
Fredy Guarin celebrated his 100th league appearance with a stunning goal after Milan had wasted a number of chances. Balotelli, who rejoined Milan on loan from Liverpool last month, hit the post and went close with a free-kick.
Photo: Reuters
“I can be happy because despite everything we didn’t deserve to lose,” Milan coach Sinisa Mihajlovic said. “We played well. We did everything we prepared in the week, but we just lacked a goal. I’m not happy with the result, but I’m happy and confident because playing like this we can do good things this season.”
Balotelli started his career at Inter before moving to Manchester City in 2010 and he came off the bench to deafening boos from the home fans shortly after the hour mark.
Mihajlovic was also loudly jeered. He spent two seasons as a player with Inter and was also assistant coach during Roberto Mancini’s first spell in charge.
Photo: AFP
“We have to go slowly, we can’t judge Mario after just a bit of a game,” Mihajlovic said. “Certainly he did well, but he has to continue like this.”
Inter are the only side still with a perfect record after US Sassuolo, US Citta di Palermo and Torino all dropped their first points of the season.
Four of the earlier matches ended with the same 2-2 scoreline. Sassuolo drew at home to Atalanta BC, in a match that also saw two saved penalties and two red cards, while Torino drew at Hellas Verona.
Newly promoted Carpi picked up their first-ever Serie A point at Palermo, while SSC Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri’s return to Empoli also ended in a stalemate.
Elsewhere, Alessandro Matri had a dream SS Lazio debut, scoring a second-half brace to beat Udinese 2-0.
UC Sampdoria’s home match against Bologna was postponed due to bad weather and was due to be played yesterday.
Milan started the brighter, with new signings Carlos Bacca and Luiz Adriano linking up well, threatening on several occasions. The duo almost put Milan ahead with less than three minutes on the clock as Bacca threaded the ball through to Adriano, but Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic came flying out to parry the former Shakhtar Donetsk striker’s effort.
They linked up again minutes later, shortly after Stevan Jovetic had fired narrowly past the left post for Inter. However, Adriano blazed over from a tight angle following a great ball from Bacca.
AC Milan were playing with a freedom and confidence not seen in their opening two Serie A matches and went close again in the 17th minute. Giacomo Bonaventura sped down the left flank and sent Adriano clear with a delightful pass, but Juan Jesus got back to pull off a perfectly timed tackle just as the Brazil forward was about to let fly.
It was Inter which went closest in first-half stoppage-time when Mauro Icardi sprung the offside trap to run through clear on goal, but Diego Lopez pulled off a great save with his legs.
Lopez rescued his side again 10 minutes after the halftime break, finger-tipping Guarin’s header over his crossbar.
However, he could do nothing three minutes later when Guarin hit a screamer into the bottom corner on a counterattack.
Balotelli was brought on in the 61st minute and he almost helped Milan level with his first touch as his free-kick flashed across the face of goal, but no one could tap it in.
The Italy forward went even closer 12 minutes from time with a long-range effort which smacked off the base of the left upright, while he also tested Handanovic with a free-kick from distance which the Inter goalkeeper managed to palm off the line.
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