AC Milan’s Champions League quest — viewed as a necessity following their outrageous summer spending — is all but doomed following a scoreless draw with Inter Milan in the 168th Serie A edition of the Derby della Madonnina. Following today’s result, Milan still sit eight points back of Inter in fourth place with only eight matches remaining.
The scene at the San Siro before kickoff was exactly what you’d expect from one of the world’s fiercest derbies. Here’s the tifo from the Milan fans in the Curva Sud.
The display from the Curva Sud fans today!
La coreografia della nostra Curva! #MilanInter pic.twitter.com/hsO4aBFKRb— AC Milan (@acmilan) April 4, 2018
Here’s the Inter tifo from the Curva Nord.
#Inter choreography. Safe to say a flower is less threatening than "until death" #MilanInter pic.twitter.com/8FAw2SVkRv
— Daniella Matar (@DaniellaMatar) April 4, 2018
The match was eventful too. In the 22nd minute, Hakan Calhanoglu appeared to have put Milan on the board with a nasty free kick that made its way through a forest of players and straight at goal. However, a superb save from Samir Handanovic kept it scoreless.
¡PARADÓN! Handanovic se luce y ahoga el grito de gol del @acmilan - #MilanInter #DerbyMilano pic.twitter.com/6dMLUDyxN2
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) April 4, 2018
Mauro Icardi then briefly gave Inter the lead in the 38th, but it was brief because the VAR rightly called it back.
¡FUERA DE LUGAR! Todos cantamos el gol de Icardi, pero el VAR le dice que no al @Inter_es - #MilanInter #DerbyMilano pic.twitter.com/2RWVWqJMla
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) April 4, 2018
After the restart, Icardi was given another glorious opportunity to put Inter ahead, but the Argentine promptly provided one of the worst misses of his career.
Icardi sitter miss omg pic.twitter.com/IRiRAALORT
— (@Sahvelkareem) April 4, 2018
Since it’s a derby and local lad Patrick Cutrone bleeds Rossoneri, you knew he’d eventually show up. He pulled off a Cristiano Ronaldo-esque bicycle, but the linesman immediately had his flag up for a clear offside.
¡FUERA DE LUGAR! Crutone quiere emular a @Cristiano pero no vale - #MilanInter #DerbyMilano pic.twitter.com/KJbVPqaQ0y
— beIN SPORTS Español (@ESbeINSPORTS) April 4, 2018
Then, at the death, Icardi wasted another fantastic chance for Inter.
Just not Icardi's night. Goal called offside by razor thin margin via VAR, and two tap-ins missed, granted lot more to be asked for this one than the first #MilanInter #MilanDerby pic.twitter.com/6casAQx661
— Jonah Takalua (@Destaquito2) April 4, 2018
While the draw is damning for Milan, Icardi’s misses are still painful from an Inter perspective — Lazio remain only two points back of that fourth and final UCL place.