Jose Mourinho thinks a draw would've been the right result and that Milan's “pragmatism” was the only difference.
“Milan scored a goal and we didn't, that is the story of this match. They had a few shots on goal and despite playing a man down, we had some great chances,” he said after the 1-0 derby defeat.
“I saw two teams tonight and neither one deserved a win more than the other. I will not talk about the goal or the red card, as I don't want to get suspended.”
Nicolas Burdisso saw red in the second half, when Ronaldinho's header had already opened the scoring, but Adriano almost snatched an equaliser in stoppages after he came off the bench along with Julio Cruz.
“When I don't like the result, I am not afraid to run risks. I did the same when we were 0-0 against Lecce, but here when we went down to 10 men I couldn't replace Esteban Cambiasso with Mario Balotelli.
“We needed the midfield held together and the way things were going Patrick Vieira would've got a second booking too.”
Lazio are incredibly leading the Serie A table now with Inter on 10 points, Milan and Juventus nine, Roma and Fiorentina seven.
“When I look at the table, with all due respect, I don't look at Lazio, Napoli or Catania. I see that we are ahead of Roma, Juventus and Milan,” continued Mourinho.
“A team that plays against Milan, who are basically all midfielders, need to balance things out. We only had two midfielders - Cambiasso and Vieira - so Cruz is in better physical shape and I put him there to put pressure on Clarence Seedorf.
“A side with 10 men that ends the game like this on the attack and forcing Milan to introduce a defender for a forward says it all. Milan were more pragmatic, this is football.”
The Inter boss criticised the Italian media's obsession with controversy over the quality of football this week, but explained his position after his first Milan derby.
“At this moment Italian football is my football, just as when I worked in England I was proud to say it was a fantastic League.
“Today's derby started out in a splendid way for me, as you cannot see the fans behave so wonderfully in every country. I didn't know they could be so respectful and generous.
“The players were respectful on the field, although Burdisso was ridiculously sent off, as I don't think he deserved to get either yellow card.
“Marco Materazzi was sent off from the bench and it seemed a familiar tale to me. He started from such slight beginnings to become World champion.
“It seemed a real derby to be and a very entertaining game. I feel 1-1 was the right result, but this was down to pragmatism. It's better to lose a game than to be afraid of playing football. We played.”
Of course it wouldn't be Mourinho without a snide comment against his opponents and he launched a broadside at the Rossoneri.
“Milan have a lot of experience and they know how to control the tempo, commit a tactical foul or pretend to have an injury to slow down the pace.
“I praise the Rossoneri and also my own team. We lost a game, but the side did very well and we are facing some difficult fixtures coming up in the next few weeks. The important thing is that we are still in front of Juve, Milan and Roma.”
