INTER PREVAILS IN MILAN

Inter prevails in Milan derby

FOOTBALL / Beckham fails to make an impact for AC Milan

MILAN: David Beckham limped off the field in AC Milan’s 2-1 loss to league leader Inter Milan, which pulled further away from its rivals with the win here on Sunday. Beckham played for 56 minutes in his first Milan derby before being replaced by Filippo Inzaghi after aggravating a hamstring injury.

The England midfielder failed to make an impact.

Adriano and Dejan Stankovic gave Milan a 2-0 lead by half-time, and the team held on to take advantage of Juventus’ 1-1 draw with Sampdoria to increase its lead to nine points with 56. Milan is third with 45 points, two less than Juventus’ 47.

Alexandre Pato scored for AC Milan in the second half, but the team was unable to find a second, although Inzaghi had a volley ruled out for off-side.

In the 18th minute, only a last minute tackle by Massimo Ambrosini stopped Inter from taking the lead.

The incident opened up the match and Inter took the lead in the 29th when Adriano scored his third goal of the season by heading home Maicon’s cross, though replays appeared to show it had come off his arm.
Stankovic strikes

Just before half-time, Stankovic made up for his earlier mistake by doubling the lead. Ibrahimovic flicked on a long ball and the Serb ran on to the header to lash a shot past goalkeeper Christian Abbiati.

Inzaghi came on for Beckham to try and relieve the attacking burden on Pato, and the Brazilian brought Milan back into the match in the 70th.

Ronaldinho threaded a pass through the defence for Marek Jankulovski and his pull-back reached the unmarked Pato, who scored his 11th goal of the season