The clash between the two teams that play the best football in Serie A did not really offer spectacular football, but it was a real derby worthy of two candidates for the Scudetto in which mistakes were paid dearly. Last season, Milan won the title mostly thanks to good games and results in derby matches. Only one derby was lost by Pioli’s team and that was from Napoli at San Siro. And tonight, the Neapolitans defeated Milan again on their field, celebrated 2:1, inflicted their first defeat of the season, and kept the aura of invincibility and first place in the standings.3 – Olivier #Giroud has found the net in three successive league appearances for the first time since July 2020, for Chelsea in the Premier League. Determined.#MilanNapoli pic.twitter.com/A6IIniFFeZ— OptaPaolo 🏆 (@OptaPaolo) September 18, 2022 For the third time in a row, the Neapolitans celebrated at San Siro. Milan are definitely not good against Napoli, as they recorded their last domestic championship victory over them back in 2014. Milan was the better team in terms of play and chances tonight, and they didn’t deserve to lose. But Napoli showed a cynicism that it didn’t have in previous seasons, and that was mainly to take advantage of the opportunities that were presented to them and to take advantage of certain qualities of certain players. In Milan, they knew very well that they should not allow Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to dribble around the penalty area. They also knew that Cholito Simeone was a guy with a dangerous jump game and a feeling for the goal. But they didn’t prevent it. Napoli took advantage of those chances and, with a bit of luck in defence, took all the spoils at the San Siro.
Both teams entered the derby undefeated in the season and without two of their best players, Milan’s Rafael Leao was suspended and Napoli’s Victor Osimeh was injured. Pioli made up for the Portuguese’s absence by surprisingly moving the recovered Rade Krunić to a slightly more offensive position, while the biggest reinforcement Charles De Ketelaere played behind the most advanced Giroud. On the other side, the Neapolitans played with Raspadori as a “false nine”, and the rest was more or less expected…Milan opened the match better, played more fluently and attacked more concretely, so after 15 minutes they had their first big chance. From pressing, they got to the ball and countered. Krunic found Giroud with a phenomenal pass, who shot well from the penalty spot, but Meret deflected the ball into the crossbar with his fingertips and saved the goal. After half an hour, Milan had more good chances. For example when Giroud took the ball off the volley for Calabria or when Krunic made a great header, but again Meret saved the visitors with a great save.Sergino Dest came on at halftime instead of Calabria to stop Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, but he didn’t succeed either. The Georgian dribbled him out and forced him to take a naive penalty that Politano slipped under the arm of Magnan for the lead. Pioli tried to shake up the team with the introduction of Diaz and Messias and soon achieved the desired result. Standard action by Milan… Teo Hernandez dribbled down the left side and sent an ideal return for his countryman Giroud, who made no mistake this time. And when Milan stepped on the gas and headed for a total turnaround, a cold shower followed. Mario Rui made an ideal cross, and Simeone escaped Tomori and scored a beautiful goal with his head. Pierre Kalula had the best chance to save Milan from defeat in the 87th minute, but he hit the crossbar from a great position…SERIE A – ROUND 7FridaySalernitana – Lecce 1-2 (0-1)/Gonzalez 55 og – Ceesay 43, Strefezza 83/SaturdayBologna – Empoli 0-1 (0-0)/Bandinelli 75/Spezia – Sampdoria 2-1 (1-1)/Mutillo 12 og, Nzola 72 – Sabiri 11/Torino – Sassuolo 0-1 (0-0)/Alvarez 90+3/SundayUdinese – Inter 3-1 (1-1)/Skriniar 22 og, Bijol 84, Arslan 90+3 – Barella 5/Cremonese – Lazio 0-4 (0-3)/Immobile 7, 21, Milinkovic-Savic 45+2, Pedro 79/Fiorentina – Verona 2-0 (1-0)/Ikone 13, Gonzalez 90/Monza – Juventus 1-0 (0-0)/Gytkjaer 74/Roma – Atalanta 0-1 (0-1)/Scalvini 35/Milan – Napoli 1-2 (0-0)/Giroud 69 – Politano 55, Simeone 78/