Published 1 November 2026
Milan3 – 1
InterNot since 1974 had a Milan derby been ripped open this quickly. Ten minutes into Saturday night at San Siro, AC Milan led Inter by two goals, and Diego Moreira had created both of them.
By half-time it was 3–1. Moreira had added a free-kick of his own, and the scoring was over. Inter spent the second half hammering at a door that never opened. The defeat ended their run of nine league games without a loss and broke their unbeaten Serie A start.
Diego Moreira had a direct hand in all three Milan goals, scoring once and providing two assists in the first half that settled the derby. Rated 9.0, he turned a side that saw far less of the ball into the most clinical team on the pitch.
This was supposed to be the week Milan's season wobbled. In midweek, Rúben Amorim's side were undone in Bologna by a Mbangula hat-trick. The week before, ten-man Milan were beaten by Bournemouth in Europe. Instead, in front of a sold-out crowd of 77,691, they beat Inter in Serie A for a third straight time. The club had not done that since Carlo Ancelotti's side between 2002 and 2004.
The opener came after four minutes. Moreira sent a left-footed cutback from the left, and Christian Pulišić rose six yards out to nod it inside the bottom-left corner.
Six minutes later the lead doubled from a routine that had the look of the training ground. Moreira drove a low corner into the box. Adrien Rabiot met it first time with a deft, lofted flick, and the ball spun past defenders before clipping the far post and crossing the line.
Rabiot's goal was his fifth in eight league appearances this season. He has now scored in four of Milan's last six league games. Pulišić, with three goals in seven appearances, has found the net in three of those six.
Inter's way back came from a set piece of their own. On 22 minutes, Hakan Çalhanoğlu swung in a corner and Manuel Akanji flicked it on. Alessandro Bastoni headed in from close range, his first goal in 20 appearances in the Derby della Madonnina.
The visitors pressed for an equaliser. On 40 minutes they protested loudly for a penalty when Marcus Thuram went down in the box under contact from Koni De Winter. Marco Guida waved play on, and VAR confirmed the decision.
Three minutes later, Milan had their two-goal margin back. Moreira stood over a free-kick 25 yards out and curled it with his left foot over the wall and into the near corner, beyond Josep Martínez. It was the first direct free-kick goal of his career. It was also his fourth league goal in six appearances this season, and he has scored in three of Milan's last six league games.
The night carried extra weight for him. Before kick-off, Kaká was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame and was brought to tears by the crowd's reception. Moreira wears Kaká's former number 22 shirt, and afterwards he spoke directly to him: "Thank you for coming and giving me your number."
On paper, the rest of the night belonged to Inter. They had 57% of the ball and took 19 shots to Milan's seven. They put eight on target to Milan's four and won 11 corners to three. Milan scored with three of their four efforts on target. Inter beat Mike Maignan only once from eight.
That gap was largely about the two goalkeepers. The Italian press praised Maignan's decisive saves against Djed Spence and Çalhanoğlu. The same reports criticised Martínez's uncertain positioning at the other end.
The biggest flashpoint of the second half came on 75 minutes. Guida awarded Inter a penalty for a suspected handball. The VAR review showed that Henrikh Mkhitaryan's cross had struck Mario Gila cleanly on the chest, and the penalty was cancelled. Inter lost a chance to make it 3–2 with a quarter of an hour left, and the scoreline held.
The national press credited Amorim with a tactical masterclass against Cristian Chivu. Amorim focused on his players' response after Bologna: "I'm really proud of what my players did, and with so little rest between matches, and especially once again after Bologna, they really fought for the entire match."
Chivu did not hide from the defeat. "It hurts, it hurts to lose a derby where both we and everyone else had different expectations... we had the wrong approach," he said.
Some of Inter's problems were beyond his control. A flu outbreak in the squad sidelined Ivan Provedel and limited his options. That came on top of injuries to Lautaro Martínez, Benjamin Pavard, John Stones, Curtis Jones and Luis Henrique. The emergency single-striker setup left Thuram isolated. Critics also returned to familiar complaints: passive starts, defensive complacency, and whether the reigning champions have lost their collective hunger.
Inter remain second on 25 points, and the defeat leaves them exposed in the race at the top. They are now winless in eight matches against Milan across all competitions. Milan sit fourth on 21 points, four behind their neighbours. They have scored in each of their last 10 league games, with 21 goals in that spell.
For Milan, one evening has changed a week that threatened to unravel. For Inter, the question is whether this was a bad night against a rival they cannot seem to beat, or the first warning of something deeper.
