The Milan derby was painted red and black after Milan secured a 3-1 victory over their rival Inter on Saturday evening at the San Siro, as part of the tenth round of the Italian league.
Ruben Amorim’s side quickly bounced back from their 4-2 defeat against Bologna in the previous round, handing Inter their first defeat of the campaign thanks to an attacking surge that revived statistics absent from the derby for many years.
Christian Pulisic needed just 3 minutes and 45 seconds to open the scoring with a header from a Diego Moreira cross, marking Milan’s fastest derby goal in the league since Alexandre Pato’s strike after 43 seconds on April 2, 2011.
Shortly after, Adrien Rabiot doubled the lead in the 10th minute, also assisted by Moreira. Rabiot thus became the third Milan midfielder to contribute to goals in five consecutive league matches since the return to the 20-team format in the 2004-05 season, following Kaká and Hakan Çalhanoğlu. The Frenchman scored four goals and provided two assists during this run, while the Turkish midfielder achieved the feat in July 2020, preceded by the Brazilian across multiple streaks between October 2004 and May 2008.
Inter had not trailed by two goals within the first ten minutes of a league match since a 3-0 defeat to Napoli on December 2, 2016. In the derby, the last such occurrence dates back to November 6, 1949, when Enrico Candiani scored for Milan in the 1st and 7th minutes before Inter staged a comeback to win 6-5 in a historic encounter.
Alessandro Bastoni attempted to bring Inter back into the game with a goal in the 22nd minute, but Moreira capped his stellar performance with a third goal from a direct free-kick in the 43rd minute. His goal became the third scored by Milan against
Inter from a direct free-kick across all competitions since data tracking began in the 2004-05 season, following Andrea Pirlo in the league on December 23, 2007, and Theo Hernández in the Italian Super Cup on January 6, 2025.
In the second half, Milan maintained their advantage, bolstered by the brilliance of Mike Maignan, who denied Inter’s attempts—including a shot by Andy Diouf and a header from Marcus Thuram. The match ended with the scoreline established before halftime, with Moreira directly contributing to all three goals.
The victory lifted Milan to 21 points, provisionally placing them fourth and narrowing the gap with their rival to four points, while Inter remained on 25 points, dropping to second behind Lazio on goal difference, with the capital club holding a game in hand.
Before the international break, Milan will host Ferencváros in the Europa League on Thursday, November 5, before visiting Genoa on Sunday, November 8. Meanwhile, Inter will travel to face Feyenoord in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, November 3, prior to hosting Como in the league on November 8.
