AC Milan to advance as flares end San Siro derby
INTER MILAN'S Champions League quarter-final second-leg clash with AC Milan was abandoned with 19 minutes to go last night after crowd trouble at the San Siro
Andriy Shevchenko netted the only goal of the game after half an hour to put Milan 3-0 ahead on aggregate although UEFA will now meet to judge whether the result will stand.
It appears certain Milan will progress to the last four as the second-half violence, which saw missiles pour on to the pitch, came from behind the goal where the Inter fans were housed.
A flare struck Milan keeper Dida on the shoulder, promoting German referee Markus Merk to call a halt to proceedings. The players left the field for a period of time but, an attempt at a resumption was met with more missiles and Merk called it off entirely.
The off-the-pitch scenes detracted from a gutsy Inter effort. The Nerazzurri started the game 2-0 down from the first leg, and only some fine goalkeeping from Dida, and some woeful refereeing from Merk prevented Roberto Mancini's men from finding their way back into the tie.
Merk's first blunder was to miss a clear head-butt from Shevchenko on Marco Materazzi after three minutes. His dismissal could have changed the outcome.
Shevchenko's next involvement put Milan ahead. The Ukrainian cut in from the right and fired a curling drive into the right corner.
At that stage, Dida had excelled himself with fine saves from Juan Sebastian Veron and Kily Gonzalez. Inter had valid claims for a penalty seven minutes before the break when Esteban Cambiasso went down under a challenge from Alessandro Nesta but Merk waved the Inter protests away.
Inter's task at the break - they had to score four times in 45 minutes - was made virtually impossible five minutes after the restart when top scorer Adriano limped out with what appeared to be a knee injury.
He was replaced by Obafemi Martins and he made an immediate impact by bursting past Nesta and firing a shot onto a post via Dida's hand.
The Milan goalkeeper was keeping Inter at bay almost single-handedly.
The incident which led to the trouble came after 71 minutes. Cambiasso had a header ruled out for a foul by Julio Cruz on Dida, prompting missiles to pour from the stands. UEFA will decide what happens but Milan are virtually assured of a semi-final place against PSV Eindhoven or Lyon.
: Toldo, Cordoba, Javier Zanetti, Favalli, Materazzi, Cristiano Zanetti (Cruz 46), Van der Meyde, Veron, Gonzalez (Mihajlovic 46), Cambiasso, Adriano (Martins 50).
: Dida (Abbiati 73), Cafu, Maldini, Nesta, Stam, Seedorf, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Shevchenko, Crespo (Rui Costa 68), Kaka.
: M. Merk (Germany).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
