Champions League, q-f/AC Milan 2 Inter Milan 0: Milan's football hardly painted the town red, but il derbissimo was a seething sea of red and black last night.
The modern Milan do not delight like the van Basten generation, though it is a worthy successor. Two Andrea Pirlo free-kicks led to headed goals in what was otherwise a stodgy display from Milan, but the old heads used all their experience to suffocate their city rivals.
Milan have based their lead in the Italian League on parsimony. In their last eight Serie A and Champions League matches, six have resulted in 1-0 wins to the rossoneri.
Among those was victory over Inter six weeks ago. But any positive result was never going to be a simple task, for Inter are not black and blue in terms of their home strip alone. Though they have scored more than any other top-flight side in Italy this season, injuries to Adriano, Alvaro Recoba and Christian Vieri blunted their attacking threat.
It meant Inter were forced to start with the strike partnership of Julio Cruz and Obafemi Martins, a pairing that had proved extremely effective at Arsenal last season, where they helped their team to a 3-0 lead.
In this tie there was city pride at stake as well as progress in the Champions League and Inter set about seeking the invaluable "away" goal.
The first chance fell their way, the set-piece specialist Sinisa Mihajlovic arcing his 10th-minute free-kick towards goal, bringing an athletic diving stop from the Brazilian Dida. Inter's captain Javier Zanetti then wriggled through four Milan players into the area where he fell under the attentions of Paolo Maldini, only for the French referee to wave away his penalty appeal.
Another promising move in this chess game of a match gave Esteban Cambiasso a clear route to goal, only for Gennaro Gattuso to slip and cynically handle. The Italy international was rightly booked, leaving him suspended from next week's second leg. Unfortunately for Inter, Juan Sebastian Veron could not punish Milan further with his free-kick, which Dida palmed calmly over.
The true pain of that miss was not known to Inter fans until a minute of first-half injury-time had expired. Pirlo stepped up to take a free-kick 10 yards in from the right touchline and centred the ball for Stam's firmly headed goal. Ivan Cordoba had allowed the Dutchman to rise free of him just eight yards out and two-thirds of San Siro exploded while the rest of it contemplated the taunts they are in for today.
The goal, from Milan's only effective first-half effort, enlivened the home team as much as their followers and Inter fans seemed set for double disappointment when Kaka crossed from the left. Andriy Shevchenko was rushing in at the far post, only for the ball to evade the Ukrainian's studs by inches.
Inter's previously fluid passing escaped them, though Dejan Stankovic chipped in a wonderful pass for the substitute Vieri, on for the wasteful Cruz, only for his rustiness to thwart his chase.
Inter's respite was brief. A sloppy tackle near the byline conceded another free-kick and again Pirlo's delivery was superlative. Shevchenko, playing in his first match for seven weeks, was allowed to jump beyond his marker to head what is likely to be the decisive goal in this tie.
AC MILAN: Dida, Cafu (Costacurta 90), Maldini, Shevchenko, Gattuso, Crespo (Ambrosini 83), Nesta (Kaladze 71), Seedorf, Pirlo, Kaka, Stam. Subs Not Used: Abbiati, Rui Costa, Tomasson, Serginho. Booked: Gattuso, Stam, Shevchenko. Goals: Stam 45, Shevchenko 74.
INTER MILAN: Toldo, Cordoba, Javier Zanetti, Cristiano Zanetti (Van der Meyde 80), Cruz (Vieri 55), Mihajlovic, Veron (Karagounis 70), Favalli, Cambiasso, Stankovic, Martins. Subs Not Used: Fontana, Ze Maria, Gonzalez, Materazzi. Booked: Mihajlovic, Cristiano Zanetti.
Referee: Alain Sars (France).
