Perhaps at the start of October, after two full rounds of the Champions League, it didn’t seem likely, but all signs now point to San Siro having two representatives in the Round of 16! On paper, Milan and Inter faced seemingly straightforward tasks in the 7th round of the elite competition. However, Girona didn’t raise the white flag against the Rossoneri in northern Italy, nor did Sparta Prague concede immediate defeat to the Nerazzurri. Quite the opposite. Milan endured moments of anguish over 90-plus minutes and emerged victorious thanks to their talisman Rafael Leao (1-0). Meanwhile, Inter bulldozed their way to an important victory courtesy of Lautaro Martinez, who, as of tonight, is the Nerazzurri’s top scorer in the Champions League since the competition adopted its current name (0-1).After Atalanta secured the UCL play-offs, Bologna got eliminated, and Juve’s TOP 8 destiny still hanging in the balance, Inter and Milan need to defend the honour of the Italian top tier. 🇮🇹🇮🇹https://t.co/wIaWtN0xDB— Mozzart Sport Kenya (@MozzartSportKe) January 22, 2025 To be fair, Girona came close to disrupting Serge Conceicao’s plans. Donny van de Beek had two golden opportunities in the first half—at 0-0 and 1-0—but Mike Maignan pulled off incredible saves to deny him. Then, midway through the second half, a marginal offside cruelly denied Bryan Gil’s moment of brilliance, sparing a frozen San Siro from a mild shock. Milan was marginally the better team in the first 45 minutes, and when Theo Hernandez failed to capitalize on a colossal chance after half an hour, Rafael Leao stepped up. The Portuguese star weaved past Girona’s defenders as if tying their legs in knots and unleashed a left-footed strike! It marked his third consecutive European match as a scorer for the Rossoneri. Over a decade ago, Zlatan Ibrahimovic achieved a similar feat, scoring in five straight European matches for Milan. Leao’s form underscores the fact that more than 70% of the team’s success in this season’s European elite competition is owed to the Portuguese powerhouse. In addition to Leao and Mike Maignan, Ismael Bennacer and Strahinja Pavlovic were the keys of the Rossoneri’s triumph. Bennacer, in the 37th minute, intercepted the ball and opened space for Leao’s dash toward Girona’s goal.Rafael Leao scored his 66th goal for Milan against Girona!He’s now the 20th top scorer in Milan history! pic.twitter.com/B16EMvLgPe— Inside Milan (@_InsideMilan) January 23, 2025 As for Girona, after Bryan Gil’s disallowed wonder goal, the Spanish team failed to find the adrenaline injection needed for the final 30 minutes. From that point on, Milan largely managed to keep the visiting players away from situations that could trouble them. The last attempt was a tame header by Ladislav Krejci in the fourth minute of stoppage time, easily dealt with by Mike Maignan.⏱ 57′ Gil scores a wondergoal but the referee blows the whistle for offside. Looked like a tight one. #MilanGirona 1-0.— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) January 22, 2025 Meanwhile, Krejci’s former club, Sparta, was trying to complicate matters for Milan’s archrival. Inter made their job easier in the 12th minute when Lautaro Martinez netted his 14th Champions League goal. The Argentine struck a volley, converting Bastoni’s ball from a tricky position to tie Adriano as Inter’s all-time top scorer in the elite competition.14 – Lautaro Martínez scored his 14th goal in #UCL , joining Adriano as Inter’s best scorer in the competition. Top.#SpartaPragaInter pic.twitter.com/2eA7affn70— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) January 22, 2025 However, Sparta refused to allow the Italian champions to close the deal in the Czech capital. The most dangerous, and nearly the only, player to pose a serious threat to Yann Sommer was Veljko Birmancevic. The Serbian international, during his 74 minutes on the pitch, forced the Swiss goalkeeper into action twice — in the 33rd and 55th minutes. These were also Sparta’s only two shots on target. Inter didn’t want to leave anything to chance in the final moments of the match. They pushed decisively to seal the victory, with Dimarco, Lautaro, and Davide Frattesi bombarding Peter Vindahl’s goal with attempts. However, Simone Inzaghi’s team once again celebrated a narrow 1-0 victory in the Champions League, for the fourth time this season (against Arsenal, Young Boys, Leipzig, and Sparta).UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ROUND 7TuesdayMonaco – Aston Villa 1-0 (1-0)/Singo 8/Atalanta – Sturm Graz 5-0 (1-0)/Retegui 12, Pasalic 58, De Ketelaere 63, Lookman 90, Brescianini 90+5/Atletico Madrid – Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 (0-1)/Alvarez 52, 90 – Hincapie 45+1/Benfica – Barcelona 4-5 (3-1)/Pavlidis 2, 22, 30 pen, Araujo 68 og – Lewandowski 13 pen, 78 pen, Raphinha 64, 90+6, Garcia 86/Bologna – Borussia Dortmund 2-1 (0-1)/Dallinga 71, Junior 72 – Guirassy 15 pen/Club Brugge – Juventus 0-0Crvena zvezda – PSV 2-3 (0-3)/Ndiaye 71, Djiga 78 – De Jong 17, Til 23, Flamingo 43/Liverpool – Lille 2-1 (1-0)/Salah 34, Elliot 67 – David 62/Slovan Bratislava – Stuttgart 1-3 (0-2)/Metsoko 85 – Leweling 11,34, Rieder 87/WednesdayLeipzig – Sporting 2-1 (1-0)/Sesko 19, Poulsen 78 – Gyokeres 75/Shakhtar – Brest 2-0 (2-0)/Kevin 18, Sudakov 37/Sparta Praha – Inter 0-1 (0-1)/Martinez 12/Arsenal – Dinamo Zagreb 3-0 (1-0)/Rice 2, Havertz 66, Odegaard 90+1/Celtic – Young Boys 1-0 (0-0)/Benito (og) 86/Feyenoord – Bayern 3-0 (2-0)/Gimenez 21, 45+9 pen, Ueda 89/Milan – Girona 1-0 (1-0)/Leao 37/PSG – Man City 4-2 (0-0)/Dembele 56, Barcola 60, Neves 78, Ramos 90+3 – Grealish 50, Haaland 53/Real Madrid – RB Salzburg 5-1 (2-0)/Rodrygo 23, 34, Mbappe 48, Vinicus 55, 77 – Bidstrup 86/
