Inter Milan conceded once and left the pitch empty-handed on Sunday, and centre-back Manuel Akanji was blunt about exactly what went wrong in a derby loss that AC Milan deserved.
Inter Milan’s Manuel Akanji did not look for excuses after Sunday’s 1-0 Serie A defeat to AC Milan. Speaking via the club’s official channels, the Swiss international defender pinpointed poor first-half execution and a failure to match Milan’s intensity as the primary reasons his side came away from the derby without a point.
Pervis Estupinan scored the only goal in the 35th minute, and AC Milan managed the rest of the match to claim local bragging rights and trim what had been a significant gap in the standings. For Inter, the two derbies this season now represent a split: dominance in the first leg followed by passivity in the return.
Akanji Calls Out the Half-Time Performance
Akanji was direct in his assessment. He told the club’s media team that Inter handed their opponents too many opportunities in the opening 45 minutes, something that simply did not happen in the earlier meeting between the sides. “In the first leg we dominated and they scored in their only chance, this time we made too many mistakes and weren’t aggressive enough. That’s why we lost,” the defender said.
It is a candid diagnosis that most Inter supporters will recognise. AC Milan came in with a game plan and executed it, while Inter appeared to wait for control that never quite arrived. When Estupinan found the net just past the half-hour mark, the psychological weight shifted and Milan became increasingly comfortable in protecting what they had.
The League Gap Remains
Akanji was quick to note that the defeat, while painful, has not fundamentally changed the picture in the title race. Inter still hold a seven-point lead over AC Milan in the Serie A table, and the focus now turns to maintaining that advantage rather than dwelling on a single derby result. For a team with Inter’s squad quality, a one-goal derby loss is a lesson rather than a crisis.
The broader Nigerian football interest in this story sits with the quality of Serie A as a destination for Super Eagles players. Fans who track Taiwo Awoniyi and other Nigerian-born players navigating European football know that understanding how top clubs diagnose their own failures matters when assessing whether a player at that level is getting the right coaching environment. Inter’s ability to reflect honestly suggests the correct lessons will be drawn. If you want to catch upcoming Serie A fixtures live, Bet9ja carries live odds for every match in the Italian top flight.
What It Means for the Rest of the Season
For AC Milan, the derby win is a shot of momentum at a point in the season when the psychological calendar begins to matter as much as the tactical one. For Inter, the task is straightforward: absorb the result, not the narrative. Seven points is a gap that requires genuine collapse to surrender, and nothing in Inter’s recent form suggests that kind of fall is coming.
Akanji’s willingness to speak plainly rather than hide behind team-talk clichés is actually a reassuring sign for the Nerazzurri faithful. A defender who identifies the problem clearly at least knows where to start fixing it.
📌 Did You Know?
- Manuel Akanji joined Inter Milan from Manchester City in the summer of 2023 on a permanent transfer after making over 100 Premier League appearances during his two seasons at the Etihad Stadium.
- Pervis Estupinan, who scored the winner on Sunday, is an Ecuadorian international left-back, making his derby goal a notable attacking contribution from a player typically deployed defensively.
- The Milan derby, officially known as the Derby della Madonnina, is considered one of the five most historically significant club rivalries in European football, with roots going back to 1908 when Inter broke away from AC Milan over a dispute about foreign players.
- Inter Milan have won more Serie A titles than any other club, with their 2020-21 title under Antonio Conte ending Juventus’s nine-year run at the top of Italian football.
- Nigeria’s Taiwo Awoniyi, who has played in both the Bundesliga and Serie A at various stages of his career, has discussed how the tactical demands of Italian football differ significantly from Germany’s more physically direct style.
- AC Milan and Inter share the San Siro stadium, officially called Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, making their home fixtures particularly unusual in that neither side has a true home advantage during derby matches.
- Akanji’s Switzerland have faced Nigeria’s Super Eagles in youth competition levels, with both nations producing a generation of technically developed central defenders who are now regulars at Champions League clubs.
