Inter continued to play the more free-flowing football, but Maignan was called into action again to make another fine save, pushing away Lautaro Martinez’s right-footed volley shortly before half-time. Alexis Saelemaekers almost scored for AC Milan, rifling a left-footed strike over the bar after a delivery was cleared into his path.

Christian Pulisic then came close to giving AC Milan an unlikely lead, firing narrowly wide with a speculative long-range strike shortly before half-time. Despite Inter’s first-half dominance, it was AC Milan who struck just nine minutes into the second period through Pulisic, when Yann Sommer could only push Saelemaekers’ strike into the path of the USA international, who clinically fired home the loose ball.

AC Milan continued to play well, with Youssouf Fofana next to test Sommer after being teed up by Saelemaekers. However, the game took a tense turn when Strahinja Pavlovic conceded a penalty for treading on Thuram’s foot inside the box. Mike Maignan kept his nerve, diving away to the Turk’s favoured bottom-left corner and parrying away the loose ball with lightning-quick reactions.

The win gives AC Milan bragging rights and moves them up to second in the table, above their city rivals. Inter Milan have dropped down to fourth after seeing a three-match winning run in Serie A come to an end.