Inter cruise past Milan with a 4-0 victory

Inter cruise past Milan with a 4-0 victory

Inter Milan tore city rivals AC Milan apart to move to the top of Serie A after a thumping 4-0 win on Saturday night.

Goals from Thiago Motta, Diego Milito and Maicon gave Inter a 3-0 lead at half-time before Dejan Stankovic added a fourth midway through the second half.

To round off a miserable night for the Rossoneri, they also lost Gennaro Gattuso to a red card just before the interval.

Last weekend's results had brought a chink of optimism to Milan after a lacklustre showing in pre-season.

They came into this derby knowing they could move five points clear of their rivals with a win and the packed San Siro was expectant of Leonardo's troops.

But what followed was one of their biggest ever let-downs as they returned to their pre-season ways and the ignominy of defeat to their most hated rivals.

The warning signs were there early on when Wesley Sneijder, given an immediate debut by Inter coach Jose Mourinho, brought a fine save out of Marco Storari with a shot from just outside the penalty area in the seventh minute.

And Inter looked strong in defence too with Lucio commanding his penalty area and not allowing his compatriot Pato room to test Julio Cesar, another Brazilian, in the Inter goal.

Inter showed their full strength in the move which led to Thiago's first goal since arriving from Genoa this summer.

Samuel Eto'o and Milito were both involved in the build-up to the goal with Thiago providing an unstoppable finish past Storari into his top corner in the 29th minute.

After having arguably enjoyed the better of the first half an hour, Milan could find no answer to falling behind and their heads dropped.

This is when the Nerazzurri took control and, 10 minutes before the interval, they were given the chance to double their lead when Gattuso felled Eto'o inside the penalty area and referee Nicola Rizzoli pointed to the spot.

Gattuso was fortunate not to be shown a red card then as Rizzoli only produced a yellow, although the Milan captain was not going to spend much longer on the field anyway.

Meanwhile, Milito stepped up to bury the spot-kick having apparently taken on responsibility for taking the penalties following Zlatan Ibrahimovic's departure this summer.

Gattuso had already called to be replaced after suffering an ankle injury when he launched himself into an unnecessary foul on Stankovic; a foul borne out of frustration.

Rizzoli this time had no choice but to show Gattuso the red card and send him off five minutes before half-time.

And to rub salt into the wound, Milan fell three behind just before the break when Maicon exchanged passes with Milito on his way into the penalty area before beating Storari in stoppage time to put the win beyond doubt after just 45 minutes.

Milan coach Leonardo brought Clarence Seedorf and Massimo Ambrosini on at the start of the second half with Marco Borriello and Mathieu Flamini both remaining in the dressing room.

But it was still Inter creating all the chances with Sneijder having a bit of shooting practice, but never finding the target with several distance shots.

Eto'o thought he had added a fourth in the 63rd minute, but his header was rightly ruled out for offside.

Yet a fourth goal followed just four minutes later when Stankovic tried his luck from 25 yards and beat a forlorn Storari into his top corner.

Enough damage had been done, although Stankovic and Milito both went close to adding a fifth with Storari this time able to salvage some personal pride with two good saves.

But his team's pride was well and truly demolished as Inter leapt above them to the top of Serie A in dominant fashion.