Moreira's early burst sets up Milan's derby statement win over Inter
Diego Moreira produced a goal and two assists as Milan ended Inter's unbeaten Serie A start with a 3-1 Derby della Madonnina win at San Siro.
Milan beat Inter 3-1 in Saturday's Derby della Madonnina, with Diego Moreira scoring a free-kick and setting up both of Milan's other goals to end Inter's unbeaten run in Serie A this season, according to The Analyst (Opta).
The Belgium international needed only ten minutes to put the game beyond Inter's early control, teeing up Christian Pulisic and Adrien Rabiot before adding a dead-ball strike of his own in first-half stoppage time to restore a two-goal cushion after Alessandro Bastoni had pulled one back.
Moreira's early double shows the value of a direct right-sided outlet
Moreira's first contribution came inside four minutes, when he got to the byline on the right, cut the ball back and floated a left-footed cross for Pulisic to head into the bottom-left corner, per The Analyst.
The second followed almost immediately from a rehearsed routine: Moreira drove a low corner into Rabiot, whose chip clipped the far post and went in, the same source reported.
Two goals inside ten minutes from the same provider is not incidental. It reflects a clear plan under Ruben Amorim to use Moreira's pace and delivery from the right as the primary route to goal, whether in open play or from a dead-ball situation, rather than build patiently through midfield against an Inter side that had not lost all season.
A rehearsed corner routine converting straight into a goal also points to specific preparation against this opponent, suggesting Milan's coaching staff had identified a weakness in how Inter defend set pieces from the near post area.
Inter's set-piece reply could not stop Moreira's dead-ball answer
Inter responded in the 22nd minute through their own set piece, with Bastoni heading home after Hakan Çalhanoglu's corner was flicked on by Manuel Akanji, The Analyst reported. It was Bastoni's first goal in 20 derby appearances.
That goal exposed a genuine route back into the contest for Inter, since it came from the exact phase of play — a corner — where Milan had just scored themselves. For a period, the match looked balanced on which side could win the next set-piece duel.
Milan settled that question before the break. Moreira's free-kick in the 43rd minute dipped viciously past the Inter goalkeeper to make it 3-1, a finish Football Italia's Susy Campanale noted was good enough to secure him the Man of the Match award.
Restoring the two-goal margin right before half-time mattered tactically as much as it did on the scoreline. It denied Inter any momentum to carry into the interval and forced Cristian Chivu's side to chase the game from an even greater deficit in the second period.
Milan held Inter at arm's length rather than chase a fourth
Inter were kept at a distance for the rest of the match, with The Analyst describing how Milan's lead went unchallenged in the second half despite an early save from their goalkeeper to deny a leveller.
That approach — protecting the advantage rather than pushing for more goals — is a reasonable reading of game management against a side that had arrived unbeaten. Once ahead by two with the goal difference and psychological edge in hand, there was little incentive for Milan to open the game back up.
Moreira described it as his finest display in Milan colours so far. "I am very happy, with my teammates we did a great job, we fought to earn the three points," he told Sky Sport Italia, as relayed by Football Italia. "For now, it is my best game in the Milan shirt. For now."
The caveat in his own words is telling: a player conscious that a single derby performance, however complete, is only one data point in a long season rather than a plateau to settle on.
Moreira had missed Milan's previous match, a 4-2 defeat to Bologna, through injury, according to The Analyst, making his return to the side and immediate influence on the derby outcome more pronounced by contrast.
The occasion carried extra weight off the pitch too. Football Italia reported that Kaka was inducted into Milan's Hall of Fame before kick-off and was visibly emotional as he acknowledged the San Siro crowd.
For Inter, the defeat ends an unbeaten start to the Serie A campaign and leaves Chivu's side needing to address how they defend quick transitions down the flanks, the area Moreira repeatedly exploited in the game's opening exchanges.