Milan 1-1 Inter: Calhanoglu scores against former club as Rossoneri miss chance to go top

San Siro, November 9: Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu scored a penalty against his former club Milan, who missed out on an opportunity to go top of Serie A in a 1-1 derby draw at San Siro.

Calhanoglu - who joined the blue half of Milan from the red side on a free transfer in July - won and then converted an early spot-kick, but Inter were pegged back soon after as Stefan de Vrij scored an own goal.

The Nerazzurri were handed a second penalty in the first half, but Ciprian Tatarusanu saved Lautaro Martinez's strike from 12 yards to keep his side level.

Inter looked the more dangerous side in the second half, yet were unable to secure the victory. However, simply denying Milan three points meant the title-chasing Rossoneri were unable to leapfrog Napoli, who also drew 1-1 with Hellas Verona.

Calhanoglu opened the scoring against his former club, earning a penalty from Franck Kessie before powering the spot-kick down the middle in the 11th minute following a lengthy VAR check.

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Inter's lead did not last long, however, as De Vrij inadvertently headed into his own net past Samir Handanovic just six minutes later after losing the flight of a cross from the left.

Milan then conceded a second spot-kick, with Fode Ballo-Toure scything Matteo Darmian down in the box, but Martinez stepped up this time and Tatarusanu produced a superb save from the striker's well-struck effort in the bottom-left corner.

Inter twice looked certain to re-take the lead shortly before the break when Nicolo Barella's shot was hacked off the line by Ballo-Toure before Martinez fired narrowly wide.

The Nerazzurri continued to push for a second after half-time and created a number of chances, including Calhanoglu's fizzing effort across goal, which was missed by both Martinez and Edin Dzeko.

Substitute Alexis Saelemaekers struck the post and Kessie skewed the rebound wide in the Rossoneri's best chance to win the game late on, but ultimately neither side was able to find a winner in the closing stages.

What does it mean? Milan fail to punish Napoli slip-up

Napoli's unlikely 1-1 draw at home against mid-table Hellas Verona gave Milan the opportunity to move two points clear at the top of Serie A, but the Rossoneri were second-best in the derby and were fortunate to come away with a point as Tatarusanu denied Martinez from the spot.

Calhanoglu proves a point to his former club

Calhanoglu has become just the fourth player to score in his first Serie A Milan derby after having played the previous one with the opposing team in the three-points-for-a-win-era (since 1994-95).

The Turkey international joins the illustrious trio of Hernan Crespo, Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Star strikers struggle to shine

Coming into this match, Dzeko had scored five Serie A goals against Milan, four at coming at San Siro - since his debut in the competition (2015-16), he has scored the most goals in away matches against the Rossoneri in Serie A.

Meanwhile, Ibrahimovic had scored six goals in six Serie A derbies for Milan against Inter, but neither centre-forward was able to find the net in this contest and win the game for their side.

Key Opta Facts:

- Milan have picked up 32 points in the opening 12 games of a Serie A season for their first time in the three-points-for-a-win era. - Hakan Calhanoglu is the fourth player to score in his first Serie A Milan derby after having played the previous encounter with the opposing team (since 1994-95), after Hernan Crespo (2006), Ronaldo (2007) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (2010). - Tatarusanu is the first Milan player to have saved a penalty in a Milan derby in Serie A since Opta started to collect this kind of data (2005-06). - Lautaro Martinez has missed three of the previous six penalties he has taken in all competitions for Inter.

What's next?

Milan travel to face Fiorentina after the international break on November 20, while Inter host Napoli the day after.