Milan v Internazionale: Champions League semi-final, first leg - live
2m ago 16.51 EDT 89 min: Gagliardini is brought down by Thiaw out on the right. Barella’s delivery into the box is claimed by Maignan. This match is petering out a little bit.
4m ago 16.49 EDT 87 min: Pobega leaves a sly one on Bastoni as the pair compete for a loose ball. The referee deems it accidental. Studs on knee, it’ll have hurt, this much we know for sure.
6m ago 16.47 EDT 85 min: Hernandez takes the free kick himself, and it’s worse than useless. Miles high and yards wide left to boot. Gagliardini breathes a sigh of relief after his manic minute. Milan’s Theo Hernandez troubles the fans high in the stands with his free-kick. Photograph: Alex Grimm/Getty Images
Updated at 16.50 EDT
7m ago 16.46 EDT 84 min: A huge chance for Inter. Lukaku and Barella combine cutely down the middle to release, of all people, Gagliardini, who should shoot but takes a touch away from goal and the chance is gone. Then up the other end, Gagliardini clips Hernandez, and this is a big chance for Milan, a free kick 25 yards out in a central position.
10m ago 16.43 EDT 81 min: Messias cuts back from the byline to the right of goal before attempting to whip a shot into the bottom left. Easy for Onana.
12m ago 16.40 EDT 78 min: Calhanoglu and Martinez are replaced by Gagliardini and Correa. Meanwhile while that was happening, there was another VAR check, Calhanoglu’s last act having been to blooter a shot straight at Thiaw, the ball slapping the Milan defender on the arm. But nothing doing. That would have been harsh.
15m ago 16.38 EDT 76 min: As the corner comes in, Krunic gives Bastoni a slap across the nipples. Bastoni goes down and rolls about. VAR has a check, but goes easy on the Milan man. Tell you what, while it would have been terribly soft, it was also rank stupidity from Krunic, and you’ve seen penalties and red cards given for less. VAR has gone easy on Milan tonight.
17m ago 16.36 EDT 74 min: Lukaku bustles brilliantly down the left. The ball ends up in the Milan box with Martinez, then Darmian, neither of whom can get a proper shot away. But they do force a corner on the left.
18m ago 16.34 EDT 72 min: Calhanoglu has the opportunity to spray a speculative pass forward to Lukaku, but is more than happy to draw a foul from Tonali and take his sweet time over the restart. The clock, and indeed the calendar, is already Inter’s friend.
21m ago 16.32 EDT 70 min: Inter make a double change, replacing Dimarco and Dzeko with De Vrij and Lukaku.
22m ago 16.31 EDT 69 min: Tomori is booked for sticking his knee in Dzeko’s special area.
23m ago 16.30 EDT 68 min: Acerbi flashes a long-distance effort towards the top-right corner. Easy for Maignan, and the end of a long-ish period of Inter possession that calmed the San Siro crowd down a little bit.
25m ago 16.28 EDT 66 min: Diaz wins a corner for Milan down the right. Tonali takes. Dzeko heads clear. The bedlam continues. Bedlam bedlam bedlam. Inter's Alessandro Bastoni (centre right) and Francesco Acerbi (right) keep tabs on Milan’s Divock Origi (centre left) and Olivier Giroud as the players wait for a corner. Photograph: Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters
Updated at 16.48 EDT
26m ago 16.27 EDT 65 min: It’s getting rowdier in San Siro. Flares lit, firecrackers explode. Origi, who knows a thing or two about supersubbing in the Champions League, waltzes down the left and nearly finds Diaz in the middle. Inter clear, but they’re under a bit of pressure again. Flagtastic Milan fans, Photograph: Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters Milan fans get flarey. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images
Updated at 16.29 EDT
27m ago 16.25 EDT 63 min: Origi busies himself down the left and slips a clever ball infield for Diaz, who finds Tonali on the edge of the Inter D. Tonali creams a low drive off the outside of the left-hand post. He wants a corner, and there was a slight deflection, but he’s not getting what he’s due. The closest Milan have come. Close but no cigar for Milan’s Sandro Tonali. Photograph: Alex Grimm/Getty Images
Updated at 16.43 EDT
29m ago 16.24 EDT 62 min: Inter respond to Milan’s double change by replacing Mkhitaryan with Brozovic.
30m ago 16.23 EDT 61 min: Krunic sashays down the inside-right channel only to be shoulder barged to the floor by Dimarco, just to the right of the D. No foul, then the referee blows for a Giroud handball, much to the double irritation of the Milanese.
32m ago 16.21 EDT 59 min: … and so Milan make a double change. Saelemaekers and Kjaer make way for Thiaw and Origi.
33m ago 16.19 EDT 58 min: Dzeko strides down the middle, all power and poise, before feeding Martinez to his right. Martinez knocks the ball down the channel but fails to win a footrace with Kjaer. After a bright period of play for Milan, it’s Inter who once again look the more likely.
35m ago 16.17 EDT 56 min: Tonali drags a harmless long-distance effort way wide left. “Not wishing to tempt fate for Manchester City,” begins Stephen Bradfield, “but could we be in for a repeat of the 1964 final when Inter beat the Real Madrid of Di Stéfano, Puskás and Gento 3-1?”
36m ago 16.16 EDT 55 min: Maignan clumps a simple clearance straight at Martinez. The ball flies out for a throw, but could have gone anywhere. Milan had started the second half brightly, but their heads are clearly still swimming. They’re very fortunate Inter haven’t put further distance between the teams.
37m ago 16.15 EDT 53 min: Bastoni dribbles into an absurd gap down the middle of the park and slips Dzeko into the Milan box. Dzeko is one on one with Maignan. Easy as that! Where was the Milan midfield, never mind their defence? Fortunately for Milan, Maignan blocks out for a corner, and nothing comes of the resulting set piece. So close to a third for Inter … again.
40m ago 16.13 EDT 51 min: Tonali wanders down the middle before threading a fine diagonal pass towards Messias, sending him free down the inside-right channel. Messias opens his body and attempts to steer across Onana and into the bottom left, but it’s always sailing harmlessly wide. Inter ripped open for the first time tonight. Much better from Milan.
42m ago 16.11 EDT 49 min: Diaz attempts to send a curler into the bottom-left corner from the edge of the Inter D. Close, but Onana had it covered. A decent start to the half by Milan, though.
43m ago 16.10 EDT 48 min: Hernandez hoicks towards the far stick. Giroud contorts in mid-air in the hope of connecting with a volley, but only manages to accidentally clip Dumfries instead. Everyone friendly afterwards. Milan’s can’t acrobatically steer the ball goalwards after accidentlly kicking Denzel Dumfries. Photograph: Daniel Dal Zennaro/EPA
Updated at 16.36 EDT
44m ago 16.08 EDT 47 min: Diaz busies himself down the middle of the park and earns Milan a free kick 35 yards out. Everyone lines up on the edge of the Inter box in anticipation.
46m ago 16.07 EDT Milan get the second half underway. No changes in personnel; a change in approach and attitude from Milan, though, surely?
49m ago 16.04 EDT That penalty incident, then. There was some contact between Kjaer and Martinez; Martinez certainly made the most of it. But as Peter Walton on BT says, once the referee had pointed to the spot, “it’s not the decision of the VAR to second guess the referee in terms of how much contact is required for a player to fall over … the player is moving at speed, it might have been the slightest of contacts, the referee has seen that and given it … once the VAR sees that contact, he doesn’t then have the evidence to go back to the referee and say there was no contact … it’s not down to the VAR to say there isn’t enough contact, that’s the referee’s job.” In short: Milan got away with one there.
1h ago 15.48 EDT 45 min +3: After a fashion, Mkhitaryan also finds himself in the book for that aforementioned incident.
1h ago 15.47 EDT 45 min +1: The first of four extra minutes sees Mkhitaryan clap Diaz across the chops with a stray arm. Krunic wants the Inter midfielder booked, but cops a yellow card himself for getting too far up in the referee’s grille.
1h ago 15.46 EDT 45 min: Saelemaekers dances in gracefully from the left flank. He beats a couple of challenges before running into Dumfries, who takes the ball off his toe and clears. That’s better from Leao’s replacement, who has been otherwise anonymous.
1h ago 15.44 EDT 43 min: The ball drops to Giroud in the Inter box, but the Milan striker can’t get his shot away. Onana still hasn’t had any serious work to do.
1h ago 15.42 EDT 41 min: Calabria whistles a cross into the Inter box from the right. A brief game of pinball. Eventually the “visitors” clear their lines. A half-hearted shout for a penalty, but the ball had hit Darmian on his front tail.
1h ago 15.40 EDT 39 min: Dumfries barrels down the right and is unceremoniously cleaned out by Hernandez, who cuts across him at speed. You’ve seen yellow cards for less, but this referee is clearly trying to keep everything civil, which is fair enough.
1h ago 15.38 EDT 37 min: Milan wanted a yellow card for Martinez back there, suggesting he’d gone down far too easily in looking for the penalty. They didn’t get their wish.
1h ago 15.36 EDT 35 min: Milan set about looking that gift horse in the mouth, shipping chances to Martinez and Dumfries in short order. They’re lucky that Martinez leaned back and shot over, and that Dumfries doesn’t have telescopic legs, unable to connect properly with a poke goalwards from a left-wing cross.
Source: The Guardian
