https://theathletic.com/4508884/2023/05/11/inter-milan-tactics-champions-league/


“We know what derbies are, we’ve played seven in 20 months,” said Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi pre-match.

“We’ve won or lost, they’re derbies that can give us important ideas, at the same time we know that each match is unique. There will be times when we’ll be more attacking and others in which we will be more defensive.”

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Inter may well have learned, but Milan did not. Their first half looked almost identical to the 3-0 Supercoppa loss to Inter in Riyadh in January. They were 2-0 down after 21 minutes that night to goals from Edin Dzeko and Federico Dimarco, as their 4-2-3-1 struggled to cope with Inter’s advancing wing-backs and combative front two.

It was déjà vu in the Champions League semi-final first leg on Wednesday as Dzeko opened the scoring and Dimarco played a key role in the second as Inter raced into a 2-0 lead inside 11 minutes. They are only the fourth team to take a two-goal lead that early in a Champions League semi-final.



Stefano Pioli’s biggest selection headache was coping without injured left-winger Rafael Leao, but his decision to stick with a 4-2-3-1 was confusing for three reasons.

First, Milan’s success in the last two rounds (conceding just one goal in four games against Napoli and Tottenham Hotspur) came from matching up their opponents, a 3-4-2-1 against Tottenham, and a 4-1-4-1 which kept Napoli’s 4-3-3 that has just won the Scudetto quiet.

Second, Inter are tactically predictable, a 3-5-2 with advancing wing-backs that look for wide overloads and early crosses, which defends as a flat back five and has a fairly fixed front two of Dzeko and Lautaro Martinez.

Third, Pioli said pre-match: “We need to take into account that this tie is played over 180 minutes”, and given the absence of dangerman Leao, a more defensive approach to ensure they were well in the tie would have made more sense.



Inter’s build-up
After the game Pioli said Inter were “more precise technically, better at winning the duels and second balls”, but a lot of their success in individual battles was facilitated by the system.



Inside the first 90 seconds of the game Inter found a way to exploit Milan’s pressing scheme. They defended out of a 4-2-3-1, which gave Olivier Giroud little support in the press — as the wingers were deep, having to consider the positioning of the Inter wing-backs — and the central midfielders tightly marked Inter’s midfield three.



Here, Nicolo Barella and Hakan Calhanoglu drop deep, bringing Ismael Bennacer (who went off injured early, but Milan’s approach stayed the same) and Rade Krunic with them.



This opened space for goalkeeper Andre Onana to play direct to Dzeko, who dropped deep to assist his team in the build-up phase.



Dzeko (6ft 4in) had the better of Fikayo Tomori all game, with Inter two-v-two against Milan’s centre-backs, though on this occasion his pass to wing-back Denzel Dumfries is misplaced.



Dzeko scores the opening goal, from a corner, which originated from a wide free kick, won by the striker.

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At the start of that sequence, Inter are trying a different build-up approach, with central centre-back Francesco Acerbi pushing forward, pinning Giroud deeper.



Inter build short down the left and recycle, but Giroud is isolated because Alexis Saelemaekers cannot overcommit given Dumfries’ positioning on the right, and Brahim Diaz has moved inside to cover Calhanoglu.



Here Diaz is gesturing for someone to cover the pass to left wing-back Dimarco — Milan’s ‘wingers’ were constantly trying to defend two players at once, and Inter had few issues playing out.



Once more they skip the midfield and go direct to Dzeko.



The Milan centre-back Simon Kjaer has moved tight to Lautaro, so Dzeko is again isolated against Tomori.



And the England international resorts to fouling him.



At 2-0, Inter spent most of their time attacking in a 4-3-3 — Dumfries pushed much higher and Matteo Darmian became the right-back, which pinned Saelemaekers.





Milan had no answers, and Inter easily accessed their wing-backs. Here Alessandro Bastoni found Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who bounced a pass wide to Dimarco.



Right-back Davide Calabria presses him, and Milan’s central midfield marking has left space for Calhanoglu to run into…



Dzeko beats Tomori in the air and flicks Dimarco’s pass onto Calhanoglu, who ends up losing possession, but Inter were fantastic at not making build-up errors — which Milan did — and consistently got into Milan’s half.



Inter’s pressing
Inter kept their seventh clean sheet of the Champions League campaign against Milan, their fourth in five knockout round games.

An early injury to Bennacer and the absence of Leao made Inter’s defensive task simpler, but Milan asked significantly fewer questions. They had played a 4-2-3-1 in the 4-0 win away to Napoli in Serie A last month, making a functional back three in-game by dropping central midfielder Krunic deeper.

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They made no such rotations against Inter, consistently building with a back four and double pivot. Their No 10 Diaz looked to roam laterally but Inter always had a spare centre-back ready to step out and mark him. At times, Dzeko would drop in to make a 5-4-1 for Inter rather than a 5-3-2.





Even after an hour, Milan’s approach was the same: recycle the ball across the back four, get boxed into wide areas by Inter’s wing-back and central midfielder pressing pair, then eventually play long towards Giroud.





Inter were not just better in both boxes but between them — it was not a sit-back-and-absorb 2-0 win. They smartly tweaked their shape to press with a 3-1-4-2, pushing both wing-backs forward to press Milan’s full-backs.



Rather simply, this matched Milan’s 4-2 build-up shape with a 4-2 press, admittedly leaving four-v-four at the back, but Inter had aerial advantages.



With Milan’s central midfielders inaccessible and full-backs redundant, Inter would press with a wing-back and outside central midfielder to make a two-v-one, Pioli’s side were forced to play long.

Here Tomori, out of short options, fails to find a forward.



Darmian makes the regain and Inter have the ball in the Milan half.



It was the same 3-1-4-2 press that forced the Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan to play long in the build-up to the second goal.



Between the grabs, Sandro Tonali has moved away and been replaced by Krunic, tracked by different Inter midfielders.



This shows where Inter could be exploited, leaving a four-v-four at the back. Giroud wins the aerial duel but fails to flick it on, instead heading it back toward the halfway line.



The recovering Barella collects the ball, and immediately pops it in behind for Dimarco.



Milan’s back four is exposed and Dimarco has multiple options: Dzeko is in position for an early cross, Lautaro is in space to pass for feet, and wing-back Dumfries is locking off the back post.

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Instead, Dimarco picks out Mkhitaryan’s run from deep.



Mkhitaryan waltzes through the remaining Milan defence, none of whom press him as they are all marking other players, and keeps his composure, lifting the ball past the diving Maignan.

This win is Inter’s third of the season against Milan. They have beaten their ‘cousins’ twice in cup competitions (also the Supercoppa) and once in Serie A.

It is the first time since 1994-95 they have three derby wins in a singular season and after their performance in the semi-final first leg, Opta’s prediction model gives them a 95 per cent chance of reaching the final for the first time since 2010.

With their impressive cup record under Inzaghi — they won the Coppa Italia last season and are in the final this time round against Fiorentina — they could prove way more than a support act in a Champions League final.