AC Milan take bragging rights in the Milan derby while Roma lose

(Football news) Two goals from star forward Rafael Leao helped the defending champions fight back from a goal down to earn a brilliant 3-2 win over arch rivals Inter on Saturday in their fifth Serie A match this season. The victory also sent Milan to the top of the table temporarily before Napoli leapfrogged them with a 2-1 at Lazio. Tensions were running high as Milan defender Theo Hernandez and Inter right back Denzel Dumfries were handed yellow cards in the ninth minute after arguing following a collision between the two players.

Inter midfielder Marcelo Brozovic then went on to score his first Serie A goal of the season in the 21st minute after a beautiful assist by forward Joaquin Correa following a counterattack orchestrated by Lautaro Martinez. The Rossoneri, however, levelled the score line seven minutes later through forward Rafael Leao, who slotted home past Samir Handanovic after collecting a pass from Sandro Tonali. Stefano Pioli's team kept on pressing but spurned a lot of chances before the half-time whistle. Olivier Giroud finally completed the comeback in the 54th minute with a weak but effective strike as it caught Handanovic unprepared. Leao then scored his second goal after swiftly moving past the Inter defence and firing home in the 61st minute to extend the lead as Edin Dezko did pull a goal back but the Milan defence held on for all three points.

"Rafa has beautiful moves, plays beautifully, knows he has talent," Pioli told reporters.

"We conceded three goals, something you cannot afford in a derby. For the chances we had we should have deserved a draw," Inter manager Simone Inzaghi told reporters.

"We struggled a lot to score two goals this evening, and then we found a great goalkeeper in front of us.Until the 70th minute I liked the team a lot, they played with courage and fought with great determination," Inzaghi added.

AS Roma were handed a massive shock as they were thrashed 4-0 by a Udinese side who showed no mercy and were helped by a brilliant early goal from Destiny Udogie in their fifth game of the season. Roma were on top with a win last week but Udinese scored after five minutes through Udogie, who brilliantly intercepted a pass between defender Rick Karsdorp and goalkeeper Rui Patricio to score his 4th goal of the season. Lazar Samardzic doubled the score in the 56th from outside the box while former Watford midfielder Roberto Pereyra netted a left-foot shot in the 75th after he was assisted by Jean-Victor Makengo. Sandi Lovric put the icing on the cake when he scored seven minutes later as Pereyra cut the ball back to find him in the middle of the box. Roma are subsequently on 10 points, one point behind leaders Napoli and AC Milan and level with Atalanta and fourth-placed Udinese.

"I prefer losing one match 4-0 than four matches 1-0," Roma manager Jose Mourinho told reporters after his worst defeat at the helm of a Serie A team in his career. "We conceded goals due to individual mistakes, but for me they are collective mistakes," Mourinho added.

The other results were: