Moreira double act exposes Inter's derby fragility under Chivu
Diego Moreira's goal and two assists sent Milan to a 3-1 derby win, leaving Cristian Chivu with three defeats from three Derby della Madonnina as a head coach.
Milan beat Inter 3-1 at San Siro on Saturday, inflicting a third straight Derby della Madonnina defeat on Cristian Chivu since he took charge of the Nerazzurri, according to Football Italia's Susy Campanale.
Chivu told Sky Sport Italia he had been "forced" into unusual selection choices by a flu outbreak in his squad, but conceded that crumbling inside the first ten minutes showed "the wrong approach" for a game of that magnitude.
The scoreline tells only part of the story. Diego Moreira, restored to Ruben Amorim's side after missing Wednesday's 4-2 loss to Bologna through injury, produced two assists and a goal in the space of 43 minutes, as reported by The Analyst's Harry Carr.
Moreira's early strikes punished a weakened Inter
Milan needed only four minutes to score. Moreira drove to the byline on the right, cut the ball back, and Christian Pulisic nodded in from the resulting cross. Six minutes later Moreira turned provider again, this time from a low corner routine that picked out Adrien Rabiot for a deft chip that clipped the far post.
That is the pattern of a team attacking the moments immediately after kick-off with intent rather than caution — the kind of fast transitional start that punishes an opponent still settling into its defensive shape. Chivu's own account of enforced changes in the preceding days suggests Inter had not had the preparation time to organise against exactly that kind of early pressure.
Set pieces did the heaviest damage
Three of the four goals in the match came from dead-ball situations. Rabiot's opener was lifted straight from the training ground via a short corner. Inter's reply arrived the same way: Hakan Calhanoglu's corner was glanced on by Manuel Akanji before Alessandro Bastoni headed in, his first goal in 20 derby appearances, as noted by The Analyst.
Moreira then restored Milan's two-goal cushion in the 43rd minute with a direct free-kick curled over the wall, a finish that needed no assist and no build-up phase at all.
That concentration of set-piece goals matters. It shows a derby decided less by sustained patterns of open play than by moments of individual quality and rehearsed routines around the box — the kind of fine margins that can swing a fixture this tight regardless of which side controls the run of play.
After Bastoni's goal brought Inter back to 2-1, the Nerazzurri held the ball for long spells but could not turn that control into a route back into the game. Carr's report describes Inter being "held at arm's length" in the second half despite their share of possession.
That distinction is worth making precise. Possession measures who has the ball, not what they do with it. A side can dominate the count and still be defending territorially if the opponent is content to sit deep, absorb pressure and break when the chance arises — which is effectively what Milan did once Moreira's free-kick had put them two goals clear again.
Chivu's own assessment pointed in the same direction. He suggested the night was not entirely wasted because Inter pulled a goal back and had a chance to push for a second, but the damage from the opening quarter of an hour, plus the concession from Moreira's set piece just before the break, had already shaped the outcome.
What it means going forward
For Chivu, the result extends an uncomfortable personal record: three Derby della Madonnina appearances as a coach, three defeats. His explanation — an illness disrupting his selection plans — accounts for the team he picked, but his own admission of "the wrong approach" in the dressing room points to something beyond personnel: a side that was not mentally or tactically prepared for Milan's early intensity.
For Amorim, the win halts nothing of his own and instead ends Inter's unbeaten start to the Serie A season, with Moreira's performance — a goal, two assists, and a recall from injury just three days after missing the Bologna defeat — standing as the game's defining individual contribution.