AC Milan win the Milan derby 3-1 and hand Inter their first Serie A defeat: three goals in the first half

AC Milan beat city rivals Inter 3-1 on Saturday evening at San Siro in Round 10 of Serie A, handing their neighbours their first league defeat of the season.

Milan settled the match in the first half. Christian Pulisic headed in the opener in the fourth minute from a Diego Moreira cross, and Adrien Rabiot added a second in the tenth minute with a shot that went in off the post after a short corner. Alessandro Bastoni pulled one back for Inter with a header in the 22nd minute, before Moreira restored the two-goal lead with a direct free kick in the 43rd minute.

The second half brought no further goals, and a late penalty awarded to Inter was overturned after a video review. The win lifts Milan to 21 points and provisionally fourth place, four points off the top, while Inter dropped to second on 25 points.

According to the club, it is Milan's fourth straight win over Inter across competitions, including the Coppa Italia, and their eighth meeting in a row without defeat against them. Milan host Hungary's Ferencvaros in the Europa League on Thursday, 5 November.

Al Majlis Analysis: The derby was effectively decided in the first half, when Milan used their strong start to build a comfortable lead before Inter had absorbed the early shock. Strikingly, all three goals went through Moreira, who made two and scored one, which makes him the clear man of the match. After the break Milan chose to manage the score calmly and faced little real danger. In the league, the win ended Inter's unbeaten record and brought Milan back into contention, four points off the top, after their painful home defeat to Bologna. The real test for Amorim's side is to turn this night into a run of steady results: a derby win brings confidence, but it does not decide a title.