Antonio Cassano is a man who is known for not holding back when it comes to expressing his opinions on football, especially his two former clubs AC Milan and Inter.
Cassano spoke to the microphones of Bobo TV about the derby last Saturday between Inter and Milan which the Rossoneri won 2-1 thanks to a brace inside the final 16 minutes from Olivier Giroud. As often happens, Cassano’s opinion clashes with that of the general consensus, but this time he has gone very bold.
“Maybe the match didn’t look so good at home… Inter could have won 7-0, from start to finish. They conceded two goals in 5 minutes, a blackout in which they conceded two causal goals, the first after a deflection from Brahim Díaz and the second with Samir Handanović not good on Giroud’s beautiful play. Even in the second half, the Nerazzurri had 4-5 wasted starts. The Rossoneri have never shot on goal, except in those 5 minutes,” he said.
“Did Díaz change the game? Stratospheric Sandro Tonali? In this match I have not seen any of this. In the first half, all the Milan players were crushed. Second half, three minutes (70-75) and then again only Inter from 75 to 90.
“Inter deserved both in the first and second half. Milan did nothing. Junior Messias and Díaz never took it. The Rossoneri don’t even know how they managed to win this match. I didn’t see any difference between the first and second half as everyone says. Three minutes changed the derby, that’s all.”
You would be hard pushed to find anyone who would argue against the idea that Inter were the better side throughout the opening 45 minutes, as they generated a number of clear cut scoring opportunities, but only Ivan Perisic’s volley from a corner broke the deadlock.
However, Milan weathered the storm well, hung in there and in the second half – especially the final 16 minutes of the game – things changed dramatically. Giroud equalised with an instinctive finish from a deflected Brahim Diaz shot, and then he span Stefan de Vrij before firing into the bottom corner to win the spoils.