During the 1994-95 Serie A season, Inter Milan were a club in transition. It ended up being the last season in Milan for Dennis Bergkamp, Wim Jonk, Ruben Sosa and also began the glorious tenure of Massimo Moratti as chairman of the club.
After a shocking thirteenth place finish in the season before, club appointed Ottavio Biachi as manager. In his guidance, the Nerazzurri had got off to an inconsistent start where team had failed to retain winning momentum throughout first half of the season.
As matchday twenty-seven came around, both Milanese Giants were gearing for a derby win against their hated rivals. The Rossoneri were favorites heading into the match, had only lost twice over an eighteen-game stretch along with being undefeated in the derby games since 1991.
Despite being the underdogs, the Nerazzurri were riding an unbeaten stretch of seven games while also maintaining a four-game winning streak and were also confident about turning the recent tide of derby wins back in their favor.
Marco Simone was experiencing a fantastic run of form for AC Milan, scoring seven goals in five matches prior to the clash against Inter. However, due to accumulations of yellow cards, he was unavailable for Fabio Capello’s side.
At kick-off, Ottavio Bianchi had the Nerazzurri starting line-up of Gianluca Pagliuca, Giuseppe Bergomi, Massimo Paganin, Gianluca Festa, Giovanni Bia, Andrea Seno, Nicola Berti, Alessandro Bianchi, Wim Jonk, Dennis Bergkamp and Marco Delvecchio.
On the flip side, Fabio Capello started the game with Sebastiano Rossi, Christian Panucci, Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, Filippo Galli, Demetrio Albertini, Stefano Eranio, Roberto Donadoni, Zvonimir Boban, Dejan Savicevic and Gianluigi Lentini.
Right from the first whistle, both sides were physical, specially through the middle. Closing down spaces, not giving anything away to the opposition and pushing playmakers off the ball anytime they try to go down the middle of the field.
Both sides, tried building up play through the wings while also trying to catch a well-timed run of their strikers via long ball passes from center-backs.
As both sides were heading into half-time, the Nerazzurri managed to break the deadlock. Following a corner kick with two minutes left in the half, Andrea Seno scored a powerful header past Sebastiano Rossi from the middle of the penalty box to the far right post to give Inter a crucial lead heading into half-time.
In second half, Milan pushed for an equalizer earlier on, however Inter defenses were able to pass the Rossoneri onslaught and kept the clean sheet. With Milan now dominating possession, Nerazzurri were relying on counter-attack opportunities to add to their slim lead.
Around the sixty-nine-minute mark, following a pass from the right wing, Dennis Bergkamp flicked a brilliant lobbed pass to find the well-timed run of Wim Jonk in the penalty box. With both keeper and center-back rushing towards him, Jonk flicked the ball past the defenders to give Inter a second goal of the match.
With only twenty minutes remaining in the match, the Nerazzurri were defensively compact, hoping to retain the two-goal advantage.
However, Milan managed to pull one back and got within one goal of completing the come-back after Giovanni Stroppa headed the ball into the net following a free-kick.
Five minutes remained in the match, Nerazzurri managed to add another goal to their tally thanks to a powerful, well-struck volley from Nicola Berti beating Sebastiano Rossi and the ball ricochet off the bar onto Rossi and into goal, securing the Nerazzurri’s their first derby win in the league in over four years.
The goal may have been put down as an ownggoal in Serie A’s history books, but not in the minds and hearts of the Nerazzurri.
