"We had the wrong approach," Cristian Chivu said after AC Milan's 3-1 win over Inter in the Derby della Madonnina. He also made clear that his side had been forced to improvise because of illness in the squad. Both can be true, but his own explanation pointed more heavily at the way Inter started, and Milan punished that immediately.

In the end, the derby was shaped before Inter had any grip on it. Christian Pulišić and Adrien Rabiot put Milan 2-0 up inside 10 minutes, and Chivu spent the rest of the night explaining a game his team never really controlled.

Chivu's explanation after the derby

Speaking to football-italia.net, Chivu said: "Today we had to improvise considering the situations we had to deal with, which emerged in the last couple of days. We tried to get someone who was ready to grit their teeth, but it was tough."

He was more specific later on: "We were forced to change, because Pio Esposito has not been well, Bonny had a fever until 4.30pm and was vomiting all night, so we had to improvise."

That accounts for the reshuffle, and it would have affected any side. Chivu did not try to pretend it explained everything. His sharper point was about application. "We had the wrong approach, then it wasn’t all a waste, because we scored for 2-1 and had the opportunity to draw level at 2-2 if not for that Maignan save. Then we gifted another goal just before half-time."

That reading matches what Nicolò Barella said as well. Quoted in Italian by Sky Sport Italia, Barella said: "We pay for mistakes, the approach is something that is not going well for us. We have to look each other in the face. We were certainly in an emergency situation, Bonny had a fever and Pio had it during the week too. Not having substitutes on the bench in attack influenced the coach's choices, this perhaps took something away from us and we struggled to get going".

Barella made the point even more plainly in comments carried by football-italia.net: "We were in a bit of an emergency because Pio and Bonny both had a fever. Not having fresh changes in attack conditioned the coach’s choices, and he had to try to do something different. It’s the attitude that counts in these games. We struggled to get going, but we realised that too late. The formation doesn’t matter."

That is probably the fairest conclusion from Inter's side. The setup may have been affected by the absences and illness, but neither Chivu nor Barella really argued that tactics alone lost the derby.

Milan's first-half burst settled the game

The basic facts of the match were brutal for Inter. Milan were 2-0 up after 10 minutes, and those goals from Pulišić and Rabiot gave them the game state they wanted straight away in AC Milan vs Inter.

Inter did respond. Alessandro Bastoni pulled one back in the 22nd minute and briefly changed the mood. Chivu was right to mention the chance to make it 2-2, and Mike Maignan's 7 saves gave Milan a cushion during that spell.

But the derby swung back just before the break. Diego Moreira restored Milan's two-goal cushion with a free kick in the 43rd minute, and that was the moment Inter never recovered from. Moreira ended the night with one goal and two assists, the best individual return in the game.

Ruben Amorim's view from the Milan side was straightforward enough. Speaking to football-italia.net, he said: "I was happy with a lot of things, we started really well, they are very strong in the air, but we changed the way we addressed the game, I think compared to other games, we are improving."

That should stop anyone reducing this to one cause. Milan did not win because of a single tactical trick. They won because they started fast, had the standout player on the pitch in Moreira, and took advantage of an Inter side that admitted it was slow to react.

Inter's problem is becoming familiar

One derby defeat does not erase Inter's league start. They still have 8 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in Serie A after this result. Chivu's frustration makes more sense because the broader return has been strong.

The concern is the pattern inside the setback. This was Inter's first Serie A defeat of the season, but it was also the eighth time in their last 11 competitive matches that they had gone behind. Chivu touched on the same issue when he told football-italia.net: "Unfortunately, it didn’t go well, but we also had some good things, we caused Milan a lot of problems once we stepped up a gear. We too have to take the blame for the initial attitude, for our sluggishness when defending, we’ve got to rediscover the determination we had last season."

That is more worrying than a one-off tactical miss. Teams can survive a reshuffled plan. Repeatedly conceding the initiative is harder to brush off, especially in matches of this level.

Milan leave with a 3-1 derby win, Moreira's biggest night so far and a result that moves them to fourth in Serie A on 21 points. Inter stay second on 25 points, but Chivu's own words left little room for excuses after the opening 10 minutes.

FAQ

Why did Cristian Chivu say Inter lost to Milan in the derby?

Chivu said illness forced Inter to improvise, with Pio Esposito unwell and Bonny dealing with a fever and vomiting through the night. But he placed more blame on Inter's start, saying they had the wrong approach, defended sluggishly and only improved after falling behind early.

Was Milan's derby win about tactics or Inter's poor attitude?

Both points came up after the match, but the stronger evidence points to Inter's attitude and availability issues as major factors. Chivu and Nicolò Barella both said the formation was not the real problem. Milan still deserve credit for a fast start and for taking control through Diego Moreira's influence.

How did Milan beat Inter 3-1 so quickly?

Milan were 2-0 up inside 10 minutes through Christian Pulišić and Adrien Rabiot, which forced Inter into a reactive game. Alessandro Bastoni made it 2-1 in the 22nd minute, but Diego Moreira restored Milan's two-goal lead with a free kick in the 43rd minute and finished with a goal and two assists.

Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →