MILAN, Italy, March 8 (Reuters) - AC Milan claimed a vital 1-0 home victory over city rivals Inter Milan on Sunday with Pervis Estupinan's late first-half strike offering a glimmer of hope in the Serie A title race.
Inter are top with 67 points and a seven-point gap over Milan. But Milan's hard-fought win at the San Siro stadium has sparked hope for their fans as the season enters its final phase with 10 games left for each team.
The clash - known as the "Derby della Madonnina" after a statue of the Virgin Mary on top of Milan Cathedral - has been contested since 1909.
Inter were short of attacking options as Marcus Thuram missed the match with flu, while captain and leading striker Lautaro Martinez remained an unused substitute as he continues to recover from a muscle injury.
In the 35th minute, Estupinan put Milan ahead, timing his run onto a pass played into space before calmly finishing from close range with a powerful strike.
“It is the most important goal of my life, really,”Estupinan told DAZN after the match.
“It was an enormous effort, a great performance in the first half, Inter fought back after the restart, because they are a strong side, but they still created practically nothing against us," teammate Luka Modric added.
Victory meant Milan completed a league double over Inter with identical 1-0 wins.
ALLEGRI SAYS INTER STILL FAVOURITES
Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri quickly cooled any talk of the Scudetto, stating that a top-four placement and spot in next season's Champions League is the main goal.
"We defended in an orderly way and had a few favourable situations. That said, Inter clearly remain the favourites for the championship," he said.
"Inter have a seven-point lead at the top, it’s a big advantage, they are still the strongest team and the clear favourites. We could’ve done better and been sharper in the final third on a few situations.
“We worked seven months to make sure we reached March in the best possible condition, because this is when the most important games of the season are played and everything is decided.”
Milan dominated the second half as they pushed for a second goal to seal the match, while Inter struggled to find rhythm in attack.
Tempers flared in the closing minutes when an Inter corner appeared to end up in the net, but the referee had already blown the whistle to stop play. The retaken corner came to nothing, drawing a chorus of whistles from the home fans as they waited for full-time to come shortly after.
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
