Inter Milan 1-0 AC Milan (3-0 agg): Lautaro Martinez seals win as Inter reach Champions League final

And so this city is black and blue. Appropriate colours, given the beating Inter passed on to their rivals on their way to the final. Milan – battered, bruised and their own colors lowered – were a sad sight at this stage of the world’s premier club competition.

This was not so much Catenaccio of the winners, defending the grand old art of Italian, but more the vandalism of an opponent who was not good enough to score.

As for Inter, they did what they had to do and secured the victory with a 2-0 lead from the first leg when Lautaro Martinez scored 16 minutes from time. That’s the extent of the praise, though, given how poor their opponents were.

Because here, under a quite literal explosion of flares and firecrackers, a Champions League semi-final was only in name and atmosphere. The rising smoke felt like a symbol of Milan’s lost hope of reaching the final in Istanbul next month. If only that fire burned under the shirts of those in red and black. They needed at least two goals to equalize. Two shots on target failed.

UEFA might as well hand over the trophy during Tuesday night’s second semi-final in Manchester. This encounter would probably never mark the rebirth of Italian football. At the end it was more like a party for two old guys in a retirement home.

The Inter stalwarts can look forward to their first appearance in the Champions League final since winning the competition in 2010

Fikayo Tomori (left) Olivier Giroud (center) and the AC Milan players looked dejected after being beaten well

In contrast, there were cheering scenes for Inter as the players celebrated with their fans as they reached the final

Inter’s best hope of playing in this league next season is to hold onto third position in Serie A. There is almost zero chance of them beating Manchester City or Real Madrid. Unless they parachute Jose Mourinho to spoil their way to the trophy, as was the case in 2010.

We should applaud them for coming this far, but conquering Milan is not a form guide. In reality, the tie was won last week.

In the hours before kick-off, the center of Milan was flooded with Nerazzurri. It was as if that victory had given them territorial rights, if not bragging rights.

Pizza del Duomo swayed, bounced and thumped to the sound of Inter’s songbook, drowning out the ubiquitous murmur of sirens. There were no problems, especially traffic and crowds of Inter fans needing police. Perhaps it was that the other half of this derby gap was inside the cathedral. Thank God, they had to say their prayers after the first leg.

At least God’s healing hands were outstretched and touched Rafael Leao’s thigh. The attacker’s absence, Cyclopean followers of Milan claimed, was the reason for their more metaphorical no-show six days earlier. So nothing to do with the defenders who failed to execute the basics of kicks, heads and tackles.

Last week’s early collapse – Inter scored their two goals within 11 minutes – has been the subject of much attention ever since. The obsessive, rolling coverage across all media has captured the soap opera drama that surrounds this fixture. Not that the first episode ended on a cliffhanger. If it felt more like Milan had already fallen out when he came into this match.

The plot twist was Leao, Milan’s daring protagonist. The pink pages of the Italian press devoted several pages to the return of the 23-year-old yesterday. However, he would have to find as many words if he were to rewrite this script.

Milan gasped and puffed for 74 minutes of the second leg, but they failed to find the goal that would trigger a comeback

Simone Inzaghi was desperate to see his side keep a clean sheet in the game and see himself in the final

Martinez then produced a cool close range finish with 16 minutes remaining to complete the win for Inter

His shot sealed a 3-0 aggregate win for Inzaghi’s men and booked their place in Istanbul’s flagship next month.

The Argentine celebrated his decisive goal with a jubilant Inter crowd at the San Siro, where they hosted that night

The Portuguese was lucky to avoid his own name in the referee’s notebook after a heavy touch and foul on Denzel Dumfries within five minutes, a mistake that betrayed a lack of fitness. Maybe God had soothed the wrong thigh. He did get close with a shot over goal just before half time, but apart from that he was huffing and puffing and blowing down very little.

It was like a chess game at times in the first half – not tactically intriguing, just a bit dull and without incident. Remove the brilliant noise and color that exists around the game and what you’re left with is a low quality monochrome game.

But at least the winning goal shone a more favorable light on things. Substitute Romelu Lukaku had possession in the penalty area – stopping a host of Milan jerseys in the process – and rolled a pass to Martinez, who escaped his supervisor with one touch and another to finish low over the goalkeeper.

Milan never came back from this. On reflection, they were almost beaten before a ball was kicked.

Inter jumped in front of their supporters and now face Manchester City or Real Madrid

It will be devastating for AC Milan not only that they lost to their rivals, but that they barely threw a punch