Two things are certain after tonight’s derby between Roma and Milan: Jose Mourinho can’t win in big matches and Zlatan Ibrahimovic can still be a one man show, when he wants. After losing in a big derby with Lazio and then against Juventus, the Portuguese drew with league leaders Napoli and tonight lost to the second placed Milan 2-0, which means that he can’t find the winning formula in the most important matches in Serie A. His team was inferior form the beginning to the 80th minute, when they finally created some chances, after Milan played with 10 men, but couldn’t score anyway. Mourinho’s team allowed one 40 year old player to command the match and be a center piece of this derby. Ibra played a fantastic game, scored 400th league goal in his career (150 of them in Serie A), and forced the penalty for Milan’s second goal. He also had another disallowed goal. More than enough for the Swede. 400 + 150 – Zlatan #Ibrahimovic has scored his 400th goal in the domestic leagues (his first goal arrived on October 30, 1999) – 150 of these have been netted in Serie A. vIBRAtions.#RomaMilan #SerieA pic.twitter.com/ew3mdnSwdt— OptaPaolo 🏆 (@OptaPaolo) October 31, 2021 Roma showed some attacking desire in the first 20 minutes, but Milan also attacked. It turns out, the 40 year old Ibrahimovic is still better than complete Roma attack, as the Swede scored a wonder goal in the 25th minute for the Milan lead. The hosts made a wall after the free kick, but Ibra was so precise and the ball went into the bottom right-hand corner – 1-0. From that moment, it was all Milan. Leao scored second for the guests in the 38th minute, but it was disallowed due to offside.
In the second half, Milan continued to control the game and dictate the tempo. Mourinho changed ex Manchester United midfielder Mkhitaryan with the Ghanaian Afena-Gyan, but nothing changed. In fact, Milan scored one more disallowed goal, due to offside positions, so another Ibra’s wonder goal was dismissed. But, the Swede was determined to be the central figure of this derby, and he succeeded in his intent. It was 53rd minute when Hernandez drove forwards, and gave the ball to Ibrahimovic, who was fouled by Ibanez, and the VAR confirmed what the referee said immediately – penalty for Milan. Kessie was precise and it was 2-0 for the visitors. A glimmer of hope for Roma appeared in the 66th minute, when Theo Hernandez was foolishly sent off, after fouling Lorenzo Pellegrini on the edge of the area, for his second yellow card. While the game was played by 11 players for both sides, Roma was inferior, but after this dismissal, the hosts finally got a grip of the match and started to attack. It was still not enough, as long shots from Veretout and Zaniolo were not so dangerous for Milan’s reserve keeper. In fact, the only proper chance came from Zaniolo, but Kjaer managed to block the shot and save the goal. Ciprian then saved Mancini’s shot in the 90th minute, but Stephan El Shaarawy scored in the 93rd minute, for the late drama. Luckily for coach Pioli, the score stayed the same and Milan remains second, with the same amount of points as league leaders Napoli. SERIE A – Round 11SaturdayAtalanta – Lazio 2-2 (1-1)/Zapata 45+1, De Roon 90+4 – Pedro 18, Immobile 74/Verona – Juventus 2-1 (2-0)/Simeone 11, 14 – McKennie 80/SundayInter – Udinese 2-0 (0-0)/Correa 60, 68/Genoa – Venezia 0-0Sassuolo -) Empoli 1-2 (1-0)/Tonelli (og) 43 – Pinamonti 83(p), Žurowski 90+3/Fiorentina – Spezia 3-0 (1-0)/Vlahovic 44(p), 62, 74/Salernitana – Napoli 0-1 (0-0)/Zielinski 61/Roma – Milan 0-2 (0-1)/Ibrahimovic 25, Kessie (p) 57/Monday22.45: (1.80) Bologna (3.70) Cagliari (5.00)***odds are subject to change