Cristian Chivu has named his Inter Milan side for tonight’s Milan derby, with Francesco Pio Esposito and Ange-Yoan Bonny leading the line. A fixture that could go a long way toward deciding the Scudetto with the Nerazzurri looking to open up a thirteen-point lead over their city rivals.
The first derby of the season remains a painful memory for Chivu, who was beaten in a match Inter largely dominated.
Tonight, the Romanian coach intends to break a negative run stretching back beyond the second star derby and close that circle once and for all.
The official lineups for tonight’s Serie A match, which kicks off at San Siro, have now been confirmed.
AC Milan Vs Inter Milan – Esposito & Bonny Lead The Line Together For First Time
The major talking point comes up front, where Chivu is forced into an unprecedented attacking combination.
Lautaro Martinez remains unavailable through injury.
Although the captain takes his place on the bench to offer support and leadership from the dugout.
More significantly, Marcus Thuram has been struck down by fever and tonsillitis in the days leading up to the match.
Therefore, the Frenchman will miss tonight’s crunch match.
Notte di Derby 🌕
Forza Nerazzurri 🖤💙@play_eFootball pic.twitter.com/1AtHosjATz— Inter ⭐⭐ (@Inter) March 8, 2026
That opens the door for Pio Esposito and Ange-Yoan Bonny to start together for the very first time this season.
The young duo have shared only brief spells on the pitch together across the campaign.
Indeed, making this a genuine unknown, but also a potentially thrilling one.
Esposito arrives on the back of a goal against Juventus and carries the weight of his Inter-supporting background with pride.
Meanwhile Bonny has recovered from the calf issue that troubled him against Genoa.
AC Milan Vs Inter Milan – Zielinski Continues As Regista With Mkhitaryan Ahead Of Calhanoglu
In midfield, Piotr Zielinski continues in the deep-lying playmaker role he has made his own during Calhanoglu’s injury-interrupted spell.
The Polish international has thrived in the position under Chivu’s guidance, contributing five league goals alongside his creative work.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan takes one of the two advanced midfield spots, edging out Hakan Calhanoglu for a starting berth despite the Turkish international’s increasing fitness.
Calhanoglu, who played 59 minutes at Como, must make do with a place on the bench, though he remains a significant option from the dugout.
Your derby-day Rossoneri XI is in! ❤️🖤
Brought to you by 𝗞𝘂𝗺𝗵𝗼 𝗧𝗶𝗿𝗲 pic.twitter.com/lkUIVGdbIt
— AC Milan (@acmilan) March 8, 2026
Nicolo Barella completes the three and wears the captain’s armband in Lautaro’s absence.
On the right wing-back, Luis Henrique starts with Denzel Dumfries named among the substitutes.
The Dutchman is expected to play a significant role from the bench and he showed encouraging signs at Como and his return to full fitness is a timely boost.
AC Milan Vs Inter Milan – Official Starting Lineups
MILAN (3-5-2): 16 Maignan; 23 Tomori, 5 De Winter, 31 Pavlovic; 56 Saelemaekers, 19 Fofana, 14 Modric, 12 Rabiot, 2 Estupiñán; 11 Pulisic, 10 Leão.
Bench: 1 Terracciano, 96 Torriani, 4 Ricci, 9 Füllkrug, 18 Nkunku, 24 Athekame, 27 Odogu, 30 Jashari, 33 Bartesaghi.
Coach: Allegri.
Suspended: none.
Unavailable: Gabbia, Loftus-Cheek, Gimenez.
INTER (3-5-2): 1 Sommer; 31 Bisseck, 25 Akanji, 95 Bastoni; 11 Luis Henrique, 23 Barella, 7 Zielinski, 22 Mkhitaryan, 32 Dimarco; 94 Esposito, 14 Bonny.
Bench: 12 Di Gennaro, 13 J. Martinez, 2 Dumfries, 6 De Vrij, 8 Sucic, 10 Lautaro Martinez, 15 Acerbi, 16 Frattesi, 17 Diouf, 20 Calhanoglu, 30 Carlos Augusto, 36 Darmian, 53 Lavelli.
Coach: Chivu.
Suspended: none.
Unavailable: Lautaro.
Referee: Doveri.
Assistant Referees: Baccini and Berti.
Fourth Official: Marchetti.
VAR: Abisso.
Assistant VAR: Di Bello.
Next season we don’t need Chivu I hate coaches who does not improve his games and learns nothing too. Bony and Pio are mediocre I miss Martinez today.
I only watched the last 7 minutes, but still, how did that handball not being checked by VAR?
Just like the corrupt Italian government, the corrupt Italian Football Federation manipulates match results to make the league look more competitive and to artificially narrow the gap in the standings. No wonder corrupt Italian football has failed to qualify for the World Cup twice in a row.
It’s the manner of the performance that’s the issue – it shows a distinct lack of basic understanding of the opposition.
Too many players are just coasting and too scared to take somebody on. Every time sideways, slow ball.
We wasted so much money on Bonny, Henrique, Diouf etc. None of them are anywhere near good enough.
I think we should still get this over the line having looked at both the run ins, but still we keep performing the same way and expecting different outcomes. And tonight will put pressure on us and give them a real boost.
If there are no “attacking / pacey” additions & at least 2 CB’s who can do the basics right made this summer the team Is only going one way.
Paulo its true. We say this every summer, but in reality we need a big clear out of players and exactly what you mentioned, something that we’ve all mentioned and know is the type of players we need, I’d add creativity to that list of attributes. I highly doubt this will happen though.
In the summer we need a rebuild of the team. We will not do that and will do just what we did last summer.
Thuram, Frattesi and Henrique should be sold in the first day of the summer transfer window.
We need quality, not quantity. 2 quality CBs, 1 attacking dribbling player and 1 fast, dribbling RWB. We should extend Sommer contract; he is not good enough but there are more urgent positions to fill.
Milan will definitely drop points against weaker sides but did Chivu had to help them. He knows Inter’s weakness so why does keeps ignoring that. Milan are a defensive team under Allegri so try to score first but actually starting by playing your best players and if that includes Henrique then thats a big problem.
Hope toro come back hungry… soon!! we certainly miss him upfront. Just goes to show how important he is to this team, even when he does not score. we do not have a leader!
Agreed. He’s missed so many games and still leading as the top scorer.
And apart from that, he’s a true captain, The sad truth… without him we have such a weak mentality it’s painful to watch.
I agree….. Chivu keeps making the same mistakes.
Why does he keep changing the team ?!!
That’s ridiculous.
We need an experienced coach.
What can we say about Chivu anymore? First comes as surprise for his appointment as manager, then comes solid showing in both CL and Seria A. Then exit from Super cup, CL, losing many games vs bigger teams. I know he’s a young inexperienced coach, but since when did it start to get normal to give new coaches a chance to be a manager of top clubs with no experience, or 1, 2 seasons under their belt. Before you had to have some trophies won, otherwise it would be a joke to be even considered as a candidate for the bench.
His disability to have a good plan vs Bodo and Milan is quite worrying.
Milan scored in the reverse fixture through a counterattack when we had left a lot of space behind. The same thing happened tonight bc Chivu, like an amateur, failed to take measures about it.
I usually stay to watch the miserable and negative comments after a loss but I think I’ll head out this time. Bunch of hopeless individuals on here. We are still 7 points clear regardless of how you feel about the coach. Winning the scudetto even by one point is still a win. Making a big deal out of a 1-0 loss to a Milan team who shut up shop early on just shows how miserable some of us are.
This loss to Bilan was brought to you by ‘Oaktree’ you buy monkeys you get a circus..
I dont like blaming the manager but he got this wrong, real bad. Milan need to win, so really the onus was on them, we overplayed first half and get soccer punched again like the previous derby. Chivu should have made it hard to score for them as we were 10 points ahead. Second time like Bodo where he he got this completely wrong. Hopefully he will learn.
We gave Milan too much respect in the first half. They got to all the second balls and pressed us really high. Allegri is a super defensive coach and Chivu should have taken advantage of that when they tried pressing us but he respected them so much and made the team drop a couple meters back which was very unusual.
It was clear on so many occassion Pio or Bony made the run by sideways passes was the decision…. Almost every time Chivu wants to get a draw Inter are going to lose that match
Sometimes its about surprising the other team with tactics and playing differently, I feel sometimes we’re too predicable with the passing channels and bringing in a different system or changing the lineup to surprise the opposition from the start will give you a advantage. He’s learning with a first full season, however I would like more adaptability over time. Hopefully we’ll clinch the league and sign a few dribblers with pace and creativity which the midfield and forwards lack
chivu still learning but why he always loosing again big club. i hate we loosing again noisy billan
Chill mate. chivu is learning. this is his first season in charge. truth be told no one, including you, expected inter to be where we are when inzaghi left end of last year, and oaktree could not get us lookman. we do not have the Interest to start another year 0 next year. All coaches had a bad debut season, even alex Ferguson, We need to strengthen the team first before changing chivu
Indeed, that’s all the point. We just needed a draw, we should have not let any space behind for them to score through a counterattack. Milan keeps losing points against defensive teams.
Milan are predictable and so are we to an extent with all our play in front and nothing in behind, but really Allegri knows how to grind out the 1-0’s, look at all his teams. We got done again with exactly the same way as the first game. Space in behind and bam 1-0.
that so true. how Allegri subtitute fofana and leao for swith defensive mode. he want keep 1-0 score
we missed lautaro so much. he always drop to get the ball. with pio and bonny , that wont happen. with chivu pick barella, henrique and attack mindset defender like bisseck in the right side. its our loss.
That was a penalty we definitely would’ve scored it we could’ve gotten a draw
We trash!
We lost serie A today.
Removing both Mikhi and Barella was a mistake; our quality rapidly went down.
50 mln spent on Diouf and Henrique; our strikers tonight were a cheap buy from Parma and a guy who had never played in a first-rank league before.
We will win the Scudetto, but only because the league is so weak.
mhiki was doodoo anyway. the switch should have been mhiki for chala.
Mikhi was better than Sucic and Frattesi. Mikhi for Hakan, yes.
by the time sucic and fratessi came in we had lost the plot anyway.. sucic, and zielinski are unfortunately the only ones with close control in our team, I cans see why chivu brought him in to dribble through the defense. that said he was bad.
Correct Mikhi is smart and he knows the tempo of the match and what the game requires of him. Susic gets the ball with no pressure takes 2-3 touches then passes back or sideways always wether its extra time or minute 10 totally clueless. Mikhi would’ve tried far more crosses and shots than Susic who would just rather pass it to Dimarco even when he was tired and marked
True, our players look like they dont want to be there or they just scared to dominate. And always against bbilan. Its like they got milanphobia.
Milan knows how to strike us in counterattacks. The fact that Chivu allowed the team to leave a lot of space behind again raises serious questions about his coaching abilities IMO.
lesser said the better today. bilans defence reminds me of our defence with cunte. with rock devrij and Rock skri in their prime, not even a fly could get through.
sorely missed toro today.
Only 1 shot on target the entire game. How pathetic. Team needs an overhaul this summer. Get rid of the dead weight. Chivu is starting to worry me because there is absolutely zero rhythm/direction in this team. They go out on the field to just pass.
New game, same issues.
Sad to watch.
The match lost to a mediocre Milan because of Chivu delusion and lack of balls. Henrique is not an Inter material so why start him after every important match he fails consistently.match over match yet the guy starts for some reason. His problem is not even defensive mistakes but really the lack of attacking passes and crosses. If Bony-Pio is not working with Bony being there just to ball watch try something different with players like Frattessi who can offer something different. However its Henrique decision that draws the line even when he has two players fit for the bench who knows how to rise up to the occassion
oh my… we don’t deserve to be top of the league playing like this. side to side, backpasses, what? SHOOT MF SHOOT! what’s the worst that could happen? if we shot the ball would ww3 start? omg.
bisseck must be put in mid because his tactical IQ in defense is a disaster. but to be fair, bisseck has been put with similar situation (handball) like ricci, and the fact was it was a penalty for opponent.
Expected loss. That’s why I wanted draw only. Now I’m afraid we’ll lose more points and remember we play Bologna at last week of the season. We have very bad memories with Bologna.
And everyone was angry when inter lost miserably in CL. Bye Bye Scuedetto.
I’m afraid we lose Scudetto. Maybe we don’t deserve it knwoing how bad we are against direct rivals and we have 5 losses. Remember season when Milan won last Scudetto, they won every remained match when Inter slipped against Bologna.
Don’t worry, Milan will drop points as well. We will win the Scudetto.
I hope so, we have good chance, Inter fan. 🙂
It was a clear penalty, but it doesn’t excuse the rest of game playing like bottom table club
yes no creativity no effective dribble
Ricci’s handball? His hand was in a natural position; should he cut it?
Wasn’t a natural position when you see that his hand moved to block the ball, only after contact did he pull it. Same situation happened to Bisseck once i think, we got penalty against us.
Yes no excuse to the approach of the match maybe you’d think up to now Chivu knows what his players biggest strength and weakness but he goes ahead and starts Henrique in another big match and the guy delivers but being too scared to cross in dangerous positions.
The ref was overall OK, don’t start blaming him for our well-deserved loss.
“Moderation”
About as infuriating as our team and the ref
That’s why I stopped posting in here
Fucken clear hand ball, why the hell didn’t VAR intervene from that?
Cannot say this enough.. can we please stop having sommer, mhiki, henrique start..
We deserved nothing
But to not even check that is despicable
Referee disaster I told you guy he will make us pay the juve’s game.
We deserved nothing
But to not even check that is despicable
Doveri biased but we were sh!*$ also.