Milan Stun Inter 3-1 in Derby della Madonnina as Moreira Stars and Champions Suffer First Defeat of the Season

AC Milan produced a blistering start and a disciplined second-half defensive display to beat Inter Milan 3-1 in the Derby della Madonnina at San Siro on Saturday, handing the Serie A champions their first league defeat of the season and dragging themselves firmly back into the title race.

Christian Pulisic headed Milan in front after only four minutes, Adrien Rabiot doubled the lead six minutes later, and Diego Moreira — the architect of both early goals — curled in a superb free kick just before half-time to restore the two-goal cushion after Alessandro Bastoni had pulled one back for Inter in the 22nd minute. The result, according to Reuters, was Milan’s fourth successive victory over their city rivals and lifted them to fourth in the table on 21 points, four behind joint leaders Inter and Lazio, who both have 25.

It was a night that belonged to Moreira and to a Milan side that, in the words of TNT Sports, stunned the champions to roar back into Scudetto contention. Inter arrived at San Siro unbeaten in the league and level at the summit, but they were caught cold by an opening ten minutes of startling intensity, and although they dominated much of the remainder of the match — enjoying 57 per cent of possession and 19 shots, according to GOAL — they could find no way past a Milan defence marshalled by goalkeeper Mike Maignan, who made seven saves.

The atmosphere matched the occasion. Nearly 78,000 spectators filled San Siro, according to the Associated Press, with both sets of supporters producing the lavish pre-match choreography for which this fixture is renowned. Milan’s players fed off it from the first whistle, and by the time the clock showed ten minutes, the champions were already chasing the game.

Pulisic struck first. Moreira, drifting in from the flank, delivered a cross of real quality, and the American met it with a flicked header into the far corner. It was, according to the Associated Press, Pulisic’s fourth goal in the Milan derby, and it came a day after he signed a new five-year contract tying him to the club until 2031. Only against Lecce, with seven goals, has the United States international scored more often in his career than against Inter.

The second goal arrived from a corner routine that had clearly been worked on the training ground. Moreira’s delivery found Rabiot peeling away from his marker, and the Frenchman dinked the ball in off the inside of the far post. It was Rabiot’s fourth goal in as many Serie A outings, and Moreira’s second assist of an evening that was rapidly becoming his own.

Inter, to their credit, responded like champions. Bastoni headed in from close range in the 22nd minute after Manuel Akanji had flicked on Hakan Calhanoglu’s corner, registering his first goal in the Milan derby at the 20th attempt, according to TNT Sports. The momentum swung. Djed Spence was denied an equaliser by a stunning Maignan save in the 35th minute, and for a spell it seemed the next goal would decide the contest.

It went to Milan. With half-time approaching, Pulisic and Moreira stood over a free kick just outside the area. It was the Belgian, a £40 million summer signing from RC Strasbourg, who took it, whipping the ball over the wall and into the top right-hand corner for his first goal from a direct free kick. According to Football Today, Moreira became only the third Milan player to score a direct free kick against Inter in all competitions since the 2004-05 season.

The second half followed a different pattern. Inter head coach Cristian Chivu threw everything at the contest, and his side pressed Milan deeper and deeper. Maignan was called upon repeatedly, and the champions were even awarded a penalty midway through the second half, only for the decision to be overturned after a video assistant referee review found that Mario Gila had not handled the ball. The chance passed, and with it went Inter’s best route back into the match. Milan held on to their two-goal lead to secure a sixth Serie A victory of the season and condemn Inter to their first defeat of the campaign.

For Milan, the win carried a significance beyond three points. According to TNT Sports, they became the first team to beat Inter in Serie A since Milan themselves did so back in March — a statistic that underlines both how rarely the champions lose and how completely Milan now have their measure in this fixture. Four successive derby wins is a run that will be felt keenly on both sides of the city.

The result also reshaped the top of the table. Lazio, level with Inter on 25 points, can move three points clear when they host Cagliari on Sunday, according to Reuters. Roma, meanwhile, climbed to third on 24 points after a 5-2 victory at Udinese in the day’s other headline result, a match in which they were 4-0 ahead inside 37 minutes. Milan, on 21 points, are four behind the leaders and very much in the conversation.

Roma’s win was emphatic. Bryan Cristante headed the opening goal after ten minutes, Rodrigo Mora netted a second in the 31st minute after being set up by Cristante, and Donyell Malen scored his eighth Serie A goal of the season two minutes later. Evan Ndicka headed a fourth from a corner before half-time. Udinese, who are second-bottom on five points, mounted a comeback of sorts through Nicolo Zaniolo and Matteo Palma, but Daniele Ghilardi added a fifth — his first Serie A goal — to complete the rout. “If we play like this there is a chance,” Cristante said afterwards, according to Reuters. “The league is not easy and it’s nice to stay in the title race. We are scoring a lot and that is very important.”

Elsewhere on Saturday, Bologna climbed to ninth with a third successive league win, beating Monza 2-1. Tommaso Pobega and Federico Bernardeschi scored for the hosts after the visitors had taken an early lead from the penalty spot through Gustavo Varela, the division’s top scorer with nine goals in nine games. Varela had been substituted by the time Monza were awarded a second penalty in the final ten minutes, and Patrick Cutrone missed from the spot as the visitors were denied a point.

The derby itself was played against a backdrop of history and of change. In the week of the match, Milan and Inter announced that they would build a new shared 71,500-seater stadium to replace San Siro, according to Reuters — a landmark decision for two clubs whose shared home has hosted this fixture for generations. Saturday’s match, played out in front of a near-capacity crowd beneath the stadium’s famous roof structure, was a reminder of what the old ground has meant to the city, and of why the announcement of its successor carried such weight.

For Inter, the defeat ends an unbeaten league start and hands the initiative, at least for a weekend, to Lazio. For Milan, under head coach Ruben Amorim, it is a statement result: a sixth league win of the season, a fourth straight derby triumph, and a performance built on a devastating opening, a star turn from their summer signing, and a goalkeeper at the top of his game.

Analysis: Why It Matters

Ten minutes that decided the derby

Football matches are rarely won in ten minutes, but this one was shaped in them. Milan’s plan was evident from the first whistle: press high, move the ball quickly to Moreira, and attack Inter’s left side before the champions could settle. The tactic worked twice inside the opening ten minutes, and the psychological effect was as important as the scoreline. Inter, a side built on control and composure, spent the rest of the evening chasing a game they had expected to manage. Even when they recovered their rhythm — and they did, dominating possession and creating 19 shots — they were always playing against the scoreboard as well as the opposition. A two-goal deficit in a derby changes every decision: full-backs push higher, midfielders take risks, and the spaces Milan needed to defend only grew more inviting on the counter. The lesson is an old one, but it was delivered with unusual clarity: in a derby, the opening minutes are not a warm-up, they are the match.

Moreira’s arrival changes Milan’s ceiling

Diego Moreira’s performance was the story within the story. Two assists and a goal, all before half-time, from a player signed for £40 million from Strasbourg in the summer. The fee had invited scrutiny, as such fees always do, but on Saturday the Belgian looked like the kind of signing that alters a team’s possibilities rather than merely filling a position. His cross for Pulisic’s opener was weighted perfectly; his corner for Rabiot’s goal was the product of a rehearsed routine executed without a flaw; and his free kick was an act of individual brilliance — the first of his career from a direct free kick, and only the third by a Milan player against Inter in more than two decades. What matters most is not the highlight reel but the pattern: Moreira was involved in all three goals, and he tormented Inter’s left side throughout the first half, with Carlos Augusto in particular struggling to contain him. If he can produce anything close to this level consistently, Milan’s attack gains a dimension it has lacked — a creator who can hurt opponents from open play, from set pieces, and from distance. That is the profile of a player around whom a title challenge can be built.

Pulisic, the derby specialist, and the contract that settles the summer

Christian Pulisic’s goal carried a neat symmetry. On Friday he signed a five-year contract extension tying him to Milan until 2031; on Saturday he scored after four minutes in the derby. The timing was no coincidence of narrative — it was the club and the player publicly committing to one another, and then the player immediately justifying the faith. Pulisic now has 45 goals in 142 appearances for Milan since joining in 2023, according to the Associated Press, and his record in this fixture is remarkable: four derby goals, with only Lecce having conceded more to him in his career. There is something about this occasion that brings out his best — the movement, the timing of his runs, the composure in front of goal. The contract matters for Milan beyond the player himself. It removes a summer of speculation, signals ambition to the rest of the squad, and anchors the attack around a proven performer in his prime years. For a club that has too often in recent years watched its best players drift towards the exit, keeping Pulisic — and doing so before a derby he then decided — is a statement of intent.

Inter’s first defeat: a warning, not a crisis

It would be a mistake to overreact to Inter’s first league defeat of the season. The champions remain level at the top of the table on 25 points, they created more than enough chances to take something from the match, and their second-half performance — 57 per cent of the ball, 19 shots, a penalty appeal that was overturned only on review — showed a team that refused to accept defeat. But the defeat does contain warnings that Cristian Chivu will want to address. Inter were caught cold by Milan’s start, and their left side was exposed repeatedly in the first half. Bastoni’s goal and Maignan’s saves kept the margin at two, but the champions never truly looked like overhauling it after the break, despite their dominance of the ball. The deeper question is whether this was a bad night or the first sign of a pattern: Milan have now beaten Inter four times in a row, and they are the only side to have beaten them in Serie A since March. Rivals will study the tape of the first ten minutes closely. Inter’s response — how quickly they put this behind them, and whether they adjust their approach to fast-starting opponents — will tell us more about their title defence than the defeat itself.

A title race with four genuine contenders — and a new stadium on the horizon

The most striking feature of the Serie A table after ten rounds is its congestion. Inter and Lazio have 25 points, Roma have 24 after their rout of Udinese, and Milan have 21. Four clubs are separated by four points, and none of them looks ready to fade. Lazio can move three clear by beating Cagliari on Sunday, but the broader picture is of a league in which the title will be contested deep into the spring rather than settled by Christmas. That is good for Serie A, which has spent recent seasons searching for a compelling title race, and it is good for the neutral: every weekend now carries a result that shifts the balance. The stadium announcement adds a longer-term dimension. A new shared 71,500-seater home, replacing San Siro, is a project that will define both clubs for decades, and it was fitting that the announcement came in derby week. Saturday’s match was a reminder of what the old stadium has given the city — noise, colour, and nights like this one. The challenge for both clubs is to carry that identity into the new ground while building teams capable of winning in it. On the evidence of Saturday, Milan are closer to that goal than many assumed at the start of the season.

What to Watch Next

1. Lazio against Cagliari on Sunday: victory would take Lazio three points clear of Inter at the top of the table, and the result will set the tone for the week ahead in the title race.
2. Whether Milan can sustain this level: a sixth league win and a fourth straight derby triumph are impressive, but the test of a title challenge is consistency against the sides below them, not only brilliance against the champions.
3. Inter’s response in their next match: the champions have not lost in the league since March, and how quickly they rediscover their composure after this defeat will shape the title race.
4. Roma’s title credentials: 4-0 up inside 37 minutes at Udinese and third in the table, Roma are scoring freely, and Cristante’s post-match comments suggest a squad that believes it belongs in the race.
5. Details of the new stadium project: with the two clubs having announced a shared 71,500-seater replacement for San Siro, the timeline, design and financing of the development will be closely watched in Milan and beyond.

Sources

• Reuters — Milan earn 3-1 derby win over Inter, Roma thump Udinese 5-2
• The Associated Press via theScore — Pulisic scores, AC Milan outclass Inter for derby victory
• USA Today — Christian Pulisic scores again vs Inter in Derby della Madonnina
• TNT Sports — AC Milan 3-1 Internazionale: result and reaction
• Football Today — AC Milan 3-1 Inter Milan: Brilliant Moreira achieves rare feat in Derby victory