Former Inter defender Daniele Adani feels that the Nerazzurri imposed their style of play for the majority of the derby against AC Milan, but paid for withdrawing into their defensive shell in the second half.

Speaking to Italian broadcaster Rai Radio 2, the former defender emphasized how the Nerazzurri had controlled play up until around an hour into the match, and then became more defensive and allowed the Rossoneri to have the initiative.

Inter looked the more confident and proactive side for much of the first half of the derby, and were good value for the 1-0 lead that they took into halftime.

For the opening parts of the second half, the Nerazzurri looked to pick up where they left off, but as the half wore on they adopted a more defensive posture to protect their lead against a Milan team who were pressing more and more aggressively for a goal.

In the end, it was this deep defensive shape that allowed the Rossoneri to find two goals through Olivier Giroud to overturn the Nerazzurri’s advantage.

“For an hour the Nerazzurri were dominant,” Adani said, “they controlled the game and controlled space well.”

Regarding the possible foul by Olivier Giroud on Alexis Sanchez in the buildup to the Rossoneri’s equalizer he said that “He made contact with the ball before making contact with the man.”

And on the Rossoneri’s winning goal, he said that “Inter were too passive and dropped too deep, Bastoni was late to come out to stop Calabria, de Vrij couldn’t contain Giroud and Handanovic wasn’t convincing trying to save it, but Giroud’s play was one for the scrapbooks.”