AC Milan v Inter Milan: Champions League semi-final, first leg – live

AC Milan v Inter Milan: Champions League semi-final, first leg – live

FULL TIME: Milan 0-2 Internazionale

A scoreline that flatters Milan. Had the VAR been in a different mood, and ruled differently on a couple of borderline decisions, this tie could already be as good as over. As it stands, Inter have a huge advantage going into the second leg … not least because the San Siro will be full of their fans next time.

90 min +3: Gagliardini goes down holding his head. Play stops.

90 min +2: Origi flicks a long ball towards Pobega, who sends a daisycutter straight at Onana. Easy for the keeper.

90 min: There will be four additional minutes.

85 min: Hernandez takes the free kick himself, and it’s worse than useless. Miles high and yards wide left to boot. Gagliardini breathes a sigh of relief after his manic minute.

84 min: A huge chance for Inter. Lukaku and Barella combine cutely down the middle to release, of all people, Gagliardini, who should shoot but takes a touch away from goal and the chance is gone. Then up the other end, Gagliardini clips Hernandez, and this is a big chance for Milan, a free kick 25 yards out in a central position.

81 min: Messias cuts back from the byline to the right of goal before attempting to whip a shot into the bottom left. Easy for Onana.

78 min: Calhanoglu and Martinez are replaced by Gagliardini and Correa. Meanwhile while that was happening, there was another VAR check, Calhanoglu’s last act having been to blooter a shot straight at Thiaw, the ball slapping the Milan defender on the arm. But nothing doing. That would have been harsh.

76 min: As the corner comes in, Krunic gives Bastoni a slap across the nipples. Bastoni goes down and rolls about. VAR has a check, but goes easy on the Milan man. Tell you what, while it would have been terribly soft, it was also rank stupidity from Krunic, and you’ve seen penalties and red cards given for less. VAR has gone easy on Milan tonight.

70 min: Inter make a double change, replacing Dimarco and Dzeko with De Vrij and Lukaku.

68 min: Acerbi flashes a long-distance effort towards the top-right corner. Easy for Maignan, and the end of a long-ish period of Inter possession that calmed the San Siro crowd down a little bit.

66 min: Diaz wins a corner for the right. Tonali takes. Dzeko heads clear. The bedlam continues. Bedlam bedlam bedlam.

62 min: Inter respond to Milan’s double change by replacing Mkhitaryan with Brozovic.

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61 min: Krunic sashays down the inside-right channel only to be shoulder barged to the floor by Dimarco, just to the right of the D. No foul, then the referee blows for a Giroud handball, much to the double irritation of the Milanese.

56 min: Tonali drags a harmless long-distance effort way wide left. “Not wishing to tempt fate for Manchester City,” begins Stephen Bradfield, “but could we be in for a repeat of the 1964 final when Inter beat the Real Madrid of Di Stéfano, Puskás and Gento 3-1?”

48 min: Hernandez hoicks towards the far stick. Giroud contorts in mid-air in the hope of connecting with a volley, but only manages to accidentally clip Dumfries instead. Everyone friendly afterwards.

Milan get the second half underway. No changes in personnel; a change in approach and attitude from Milan, though, surely?

HALF TIME: Milan 0-2 Internazionale

Advantage Nerazzurri. Advantage very much to the Nerazzurri.

45 min +3: After a fashion, Mkhitaryan also finds himself in the book for that aforementioned incident.

45 min +1: The first of four extra minutes sees Mkhitaryan clap Diaz across the chops with a stray arm. Krunic wants the Inter midfielder booked, but cops a yellow card himself for getting too far up in the referee’s grille.

43 min: The ball drops to Giroud in the Inter box, but the Milan striker can’t get his shot away. Onana still hasn’t had any serious work to do.

41 min: Calabria whistles a cross into the Inter box from the right. A brief game of pinball. Eventually the “visitors” clear their lines. A half-hearted shout for a penalty, but the ball had hit Darmian on his front tail.

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39 min: Dumfries barrels down the right and is unceremoniously cleaned out by Hernandez, who cuts across him at speed. You’ve seen yellow cards for less, but this referee is clearly trying to keep everything civil, which is fair enough.

37 min: Milan wanted a yellow card for Martinez back there, suggesting he’d gone down far too easily in looking for the penalty. They didn’t get their wish.

VAR: No penalty!

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33 min: A huge lifeline for Milan! VAR ushers the referee over to the monitor, and the decision to award the penalty – and book Kjaer – is overturned! It looked a clear enough spot kick, so that’s a big decision all right. Kjaer clearly didn’t touch him enough … but was that so clear and obvious? The answer to that question is not clear or obvious!

Penalty for Internazionale!

31 min: Martinez spins away from Tomori and Kjaer, down the inside-right channel and into the Milan box. Kjaer clips Martinez, and it’s a yellow card and a penalty!

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30 min: Milan finally get something together, Messias crossing low from the right, Calabria backflicking towards the unguarded bottom-right corner of the goal. The side netting ripples.

28 min: Diaz and Giroud attempt to combine down the inside-right channel but the latter is caught offside. Diaz, frustrated, gets involved in a childish shoving match with the bigger Bastoni. There’d only be one winner had that developed, but the referee puts a stop to it quickly enough.

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26 min: Dzeko, deep on the left flank, nearly releases Martinez down the middle with a raking diagonal pass. Martinez is swarmed, though a better touch might have taken him away from the Milan defenders.

21 min: Dzeko slips a pass down the left for Dimarco. His cross is gratefully received by Maignan. It’s all Inter, and while there’s still a lot of noise in San Siro, it’s all being made by the (technically travelling) away support.

15 min: Milan are all over the shop! Calhanoglu, 25 yards out on the left, sends a rising rasper across Maignan and off the inside of the right-hand post. That’s an absolute screamer! The rebound is teed up for Mkhitaryan, whose low drive is kicked away by the Milan keeper. Inches away from a three-goal lead within a quarter of an hour!

GOAL! Milan 0-2 Internazionale (Mkhitaryan 11)

This is sensational! Some space for Barella down the left. He fires a low cross towards Martinez, who dummies on the edge of the D and allows Mkhitaryan to come in behind him, take a touch down the middle and into the Milan box, and slam a shot across Maignan and into the left-hand side of the net!

10 min: Dzeko did so well to get to the ball ahead of Calabria. The Milan captain was rooted to the spot as the Inter striker powered around him from behind to whistle that volley home.

GOAL! Milan 0-1 Internazionale (Dzeko 8)

This is such a sweet strike. The corner’s swung in from the left by Dimarco. Dzeko meets the dropping ball, eight yards out, and blisters a sidefooted volley into the top right! Easy as that.

7 min: Dimarco’s delivery is knocked on by Acerbi and pings off Tonali for the first corner of the evening. It’ll come in from the left.

4 min: It’s all a bit scrappy. Kjaer blooters forward in the 1980s English style. Onana gathers. On BT Sport, pundit Rio Ferdinand claims he’s never experienced an atmosphere like this. His awe is genuine and palpable.

24 sec: Hernandez comes in late on Dumfries. A high-intensity start. A bit later in the game and that could have been a yellow.

Internazionale get the ball rolling. This time next week, we’ll know which one of these teams has become the first Italian finalist since Juventus in 2017. Quite a way to go yet.

The teams are out! We’ve already established what they’re wearing. You won’t need telling what the atmosphere is like at San Siro. Let’s just pay indirect homage to Zadok the Priest and take it from there. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.

How the teams got here. Inter came second behind Bayern Munich in the groups, knocking out Barcelona as a result, while Milan were runners-up to Chelsea. In the first knockout round, Milan saw off Spurs while Inter did for Porto, and then in the quarters, this happened …