The weekend just gone in Seire A was all about one match. Whilst La Liga hosted El Classico on Sunday night, Serie A staged its own tasty affair in the form of Derby della Madonnia; Inter Milan versus AC Milan.
The San Siro hasn't been a happy place this season, as both sides have only managed one home victory a apiece. Yet both AC Milan and Inter were coming into this clash off the back of European victories in midweek.
It was Inter who stormed into an early lead when Walter Samuel headed in from a tight angle. Milito then missed a golden opportunity when he took too long in a one-on-one situation and then from the resulting rebound, headed straight at Abbiati.
Riccardo Montolivo was testing his radar from range and eventually volleyed an effort home. It was ruled out moments later when the referee blew up for a foul on Samir Handanovic in the build-up beforehand.
The sending off of Yuto Nagatomo in the second-half meant that Inter were forced to withstand heavy pressure from AC Milan for the remainder of the game. Montolivo continued to test Handanovic from range and nearly forced an equaliser when one of his rebounded shots fell to Bojan Krkic, but he lost his footing at the vital moment.
Former Inter forward Giampaolo Pazzini missed a couple of big chances and Robinho felt he had a claim for a penalty, but Inter held on to take all three points and pile even more pressure on AC boss Allegri; something he tried to divert in his post-match press conference by claiming his side played well and instead put the blame on refereeing decisions, especially Montolivo's disallowed goal.
Elsewhere in Serie A, leaders Juventus and Napoli went about their business by continuing their unbeaten starts to the campaign. Napoli scored two sumptuous goals either side of an Udinese equaliser to grab all three points at home, whilst Juve, boosted by the midweek news that coach Antonio Conte will be back in four months not ten, came away from Siena with a 2-1 victory also.
Roma were celebrating a first home victory on Sunday when they ran out as 2-0 winners against Atalanta. I Lupi had to ride a mountain of early pressure from Atalanta, before Francesco Totti chipped a delightful pass through a crowd on the edge of the box to find the run of Erik Lamela who finished calmly. Michael Bradley added a second on the hour mark.
Finally Cagliari picked up their first win of the season, beating Torino 1-0 away from home. A Nene penalty 15 minutes from time was enough to lift Cagliari off the bottom of the table and into 17th positon.
Chievo 2-1 Sampdoria; Genoa 1-1 Palermo; AS Roma 2-0 Atalanta; Catania 2-0 Parma; Pescara 0-3 Lazio; Fiorentina 1-0 Bologna; Siena 1-2 Juventus; Torino 0-1 Cagliari; AC Milan 0-1 Inter; Napoli 2-1 Udinese