Inter Milan – AC Milan: Conceição Commands Another Comeback (2-3)

Travel to Saudi Arabia threatened to take the sting out of an age old derby, but primordial roots reinvigorated this final. AC Milan turned around the score in the second half and exemplified the essence of what has made them such a strong side in previous years.

Tactical analysis and match report by Emmanuel Adeyemi-Abere.

We decided to make this article free to read. If you want to support our work, consider taking a subscription.

Derby della Madonnina sets the stage for the demonstration of power in Milan. As the black and blue half of the city attempts to assert its strength, is the Supercoppa the start of an assault on silverware?

Antonio Conte created the foundations for a dynasty that Simone Inzaghi inspired to new feats. Along with a Champions League final appearance, Inter have won two Coppa Italias and a Serie A title since 2021 and intend to keep this title for a fourth year in a row. They have not hit the heights from their storming Scudetto season, but this team is still in a strong position to take trophies at the end of May.

AC Milan conquered Serie A in 2022, but stability has not accompanied success to the same degree. Paulo Fonseca entered the dugout in the summer and oversaw high profile triumphs over outfits that included their cross city rivals. Yet, the team were double digit points adrift of the top of the table at the end of the year and he paid the price with his job. How will Sérgio Conceição fare in the post?

Conceição claimed a 2-1 win in the semi-final over Juventus in his debut in the dugout. After his first full week of work, he was going for another success and sent out ten of the same players from the last round. He added Yunus Musah in the midfield next to Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders instead of Ismaël Bennacer. So, there was no space in the selection for Rafael Leão to feature. The winger has now been missing for over two weeks due to a muscular issue and Álex Jiménez filled in for him.

Inzaghi beat Atalanta 2-0 to get to this final. Here, Mehdi Taremi took the place of Marcus Thuram as the strike partner for Lautaro Martínez. Behind them was the usual trio of Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Nicolas Barella, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Denzel Dumfries, who scored three times in his last six games, was on the hunt for goals from right wing-back, and Federico Dimarco sat on the left edge of the defense. Yann Bisseck, Stefan de Vrij, and Alessandro Bastoni built the wall in the middle of the back five.

An acceptable stalemate

Fonseca foiled Inter’s relentless rotations in September with a passive 4-2-4 block to mirror the basic blueprint of their system. Conceição chose a different plan. He was much more willing to push the lines forward and press higher up the pitch in the first fifteen minutes of the match. Only once Inter escaped did they fall back into a firm 5-2-3 shape. Jiménez, who had joined the left of the offense in the semi-final, switched sides for the final and marked the dangerous Dimarco in this arrangement.

12^th minute: offensive sequence from Inter Milan. Mkhitaryan rotated deeper into Bastoni’s position and the central defender pushed forward on the flank. The midfielder fired a pass to Dimarco and the two switch positions after Dimarco’s layoff to Bastoni. Direct access opens to Taremi, who then turns to find Barella and the movement of the strikers creates the chance for a deep ball behind the defense.

Inter relied on the left wing for progressive action. Bastoni broke forward to connect with Mkhitaryan and Dimarco. But the most dynamism arrived out of direct play into the two forwards, and without it, chances were infrequent. Inter also allowed few openings on the other side of the pitch. Their famed 5-3-2 block clogs the channels around the ball carrier and repelled AC Milan’s organized offensive.

Finally, on the stroke of half time, Inter exploited a mistake to draw red blood and strike first on the scoreline. Jiménez mishit a backpass to Emerson, who switched off as Dimarco directed a throw-in to Mkhitaryan down the left channel. The midfielder motored forward on the break, cutting the ball along the face of the penalty area, where Taremi then pushed it onto Lautaro. The captain cut away from Thiaw and Hernández before slotting a shot past Maignan and into the back of the net. 1-0.

Cue the chaos

It would be Taremi’s turn to celebrate a strike at the start of the second half. Thiaw and Tomori tried to hold the height of the last line around the center circle. But de Vrij had the space and time to ping a pass over the defense, and Taremi took the ball out of the air cleanly. The striker was now only one on one with Maignan, opting to roll the ball to the side of the goalkeeper and double Inter’s advantage.

Conceição chose to throw on his star man. Jiménez departed the pitch, Pulisic pushed over to the right flank and Leão locked into his usual position as a left winger. His immediate impact blew open the match, driving at the heart of Inter’s defense to provoke a foul from Mkhitaryan and earn a free kick. Hernández stepped forward to strike the set-piece, bent the ball low and around the wall, beating Yann Sommer between the posts. AC Milan had halved the deficit, and the contest was alive again.

Milan stuck to their 5-2-3 shape in deeper defensive organization. Pulisic and Leão flanked Morata in the front three while Musah moved to the right of their back five. However, the team threw caution to the wind in an open exchange of blows and began to create more chances in a more vertical contest.

64^th minute: offensive transition from AC Milan. Hernández reads the flight of Sommer’s long ball, using his chest to guide the ball away from Dumfries. Barella pushes out to the wide defender, who plays a one-two combination with Fofana and flies forward to take out the whole midfield. All three forwards attack the last line and Hernández hit the ball along the floor to Morata. Although he could not trouble the goalkeeper, Tomori tidied up an attempted transition and the situation repeated itself.

Morata and Pulisic pulled up at the far post with headers that Sommer saved. In this phase, the tandem of Hernández and Leão also locked into high gear. Leão’s deadly acceleration on the dribble gave him separation from Bisseck, and he found Reijnders in the penalty area. The midfielder stretched to shoot at the target, but Bastoni blocked on the line. The defenders tired, and in the end, resistance faltered.

Leão lowered on the left wing and Maignan bowled the ball out to the winger. Hernández hustled forward and outstripped Barella for speed on the inside channel, cutting across the midfielder to connect with a deep pass into the final third. He hit the ball back into the box as Abraham occupied defenders at the near post and Pulisic picked his spot, beating Bastoni to the ball before firing through the legs of Augusto. Four goals, all evenly shared, and at least ten more minutes of entertainment.

Rossoneri’s resilience rewarded

Just before the goal, Conceição had doubled down on the risk taking. He put on Ruben Loftus-Cheek came on for Musah and Tammy Abraham replaced Reijnders. Milan moved into a 4-4-2 formation without the extra man in their defense. Inter instigated the response. They registered five efforts in the final ten minutes of normal time and Davide Frattesi threatened the last line with runs from midfield.

85^th minute: offensive sequence from Inter Milan. The typical sequence in this structure would involve Bastoni’s rotation out of the defensive line and connectivity activity from the forwards while Frattesi ran in the channel between Thiaw and Hernández. Here, Bastoni switched to release Dumfries on the far side and with similar movement patterns, Inzaghi’s men could also access central space directly.

But the Rossoneri’s resilience would earn the ultimate prize. In injury time, AC Milan attacked again. Pulisic punched the ball through a hole inside Bastoni. Leão launched forward off the back of Asllani and contacted the ball before Bisseck could block his cutback. Abraham was on hand to tap the ball into the net and AC Milan completed the comeback. The Supercoppa Italiana was returning to the city of Milan in the hands of a different owner. What a way for Conceição to begin the stint at his new job.

Takeaways

To sacrifice a two goal lead is a painful pill to swallow for Inter Milan— and it is even worse to come at the expense of silverware against their rivals. Inzaghi indicated he wished to refresh his side more, but injuries limited his options. His outfit could not complete transitions as well as their opponents and also lacked the fluidity in small spaces of the last season. But hope is not all lost. The next derby is under a month away and revenge could put them on the way to taking the Serie A title once more.

After six straight defeats in the derby, AC Milan have beaten their cross city rivals for the second time this season. Conceição commended the character of his players, who have bounced back from being behind at half time twice on the way to the trophy. But he also deserves credit for letting the players off the leash and trusting their offensive instincts. That freedom fired AC Milan toward the Scudetto and Conceição will want to push the team to that level again through his commands in the dugout.

Match plots will be added as soon as possible.