Edin Dzeko (center) opened the scoring with a dramatic finish. Photo: Getty Images/Mattia Ozbot AC Milan vs Inter Milan UCL 22-23 Results of the first semi-final match
If the best days of Italian club football were supposedly over, it was a reminder that class is unchanged as the two former Premier League stars put Inter Milan at the head of this Champions League semi-final.
The last time Inter and Milan met in a European match, the match was abandoned after Inter fans threw fireworks onto the pitch in 2005.
This time the only pyrotechnics were provided by their players Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, 71 years old in total, both scoring in the first 11 minutes of the first match.
It was a night to relive past glory in many ways. With 10 European Cups to his credit, Milan's great rival once took to the stage like Denzel Washington on the silver screen: with style, swagger and panache.
Edin Dzeko knocks out the Nerazzurri ten minutes ahead 🔵⚫#UCL pic.twitter.com/a0Rh4jVs35
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 10, 2023
This was their place. But no Italian Champions League winner has been since José Mourinho gave a masterclass in counter-attacking football in 2010.
It was arguably the Portuguese's greatest achievement, along with Porto's shocking Champions League triumph. years ago. Even then, the glory of Inter was at odds with the European trend. Once the aristocrat of the continent, Italian club football has spent much of the last decade looking like it was sent to a nursing home.
This semi-final was a welcome return to prominence, a reminder that history cannot be ignored. If this was a semi-final that felt like a step back in time to a bygone era, it might have been fitting that it was the two Inter veterans who put them in charge early on.
At 37, Dzeko can no longer move around the field as well as he could, but the former Manchester City striker remains as strong as ever, and the quality of his technique does not decrease with age.
Inter may have been a visiting team in their stadium, but they silenced home support as Dzeko fought full-back Davide Calabria to send an unstoppable volley into the roof of the goal.
It came from Inter's first corner and they scored again with their first menacing attack in open play, a piercing pass that ended with Mkhitaryan, the 34-year-old former Manchester United winger and Arsenal, smashed the first shot past a badly exposed Mike Meignan.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan scores Inter's second goal, punishing Milan for a slow start. Photo: Getty Images/Mattia Ozbot. 15 minutes later, when Hakan Calhanoglu landed a delightful sharp shot on the inside of the post, the ball flew away and not into the net.
Milan were the complete opposite of electricity and were very lucky not to concede a penalty when Lautaro Martinez spun away from English defender Fikayo Tomori and was pulled back by Simon Chier. It wasn't a rush per se, but it seemed to throw the Argentine international off balance.
Initially a penalty was awarded and a yellow card was shown, but referee Jesús Gil Manzano changed his mind after being told to look at him Screen Var. Milan needed to get out quickly in the second half and Brahim Diaz spun wide shortly after the restart before Junior Messias inexplicably missed the target with only the goalkeeper left to hit.
Jeko, who went silent after his early goal, lost a second with a good save as Tomori, who still has England ambitions, is missing.
At Milan, it was much better in terms of attacking play, and when Sandro Tonali hit the post a little over half an hour before the game, the fans were constantly noisy. They will both return to their San Siro Stadium in two weeks. There is still life in old dogs.
AC Milan vs. Inter — UCL 22-23 semi-final line-ups for the first legs
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