AC Milan branded ‘toothless’ as Rio Ferdinand and Co put Inter loss down to lack of killer instinct

AC Milan were ‘toothless’ in their Champions League semi-final defeat by Inter Milan and ‘outplayed’ throughout the two legs, according to Rio Ferdinand and Michael Owen.

Inter cruised into next month’s final with a 3-0 aggregate victory over their bitter rivals, who failed to find the back of the net in more than 180 minutes of the tie.

Lautaro Martinez’s close-range strike 16 minutes from time killed any hopes of a Milan comeback at the San Siro, meaning Simone Inzaghi’s side will take on Manchester City or Real Madrid in Istanbul on June 10.

Across the two legs, Inter always looked in control of the tie and were unfortunate not to come away with a more convincing first-leg victory last week.

Milan produced a more organised and spirited display on Tuesday after a calamitous showing in the opener, yet they were unable to pull one back before Martinez put Inter out of sight.

AC Milan were branded ‘toothless’ after their Champions League semi-final loss to Inter Milan

Lautaro Martinez’s strike 16 minutes from time sealed Inter’s place in next month’s final

Rio Ferdinand (left) and Michael Owen (right) said Milan were ‘toothless’ and ‘outplayed’

It was a miserable evening for Stefano Pioli’s men as their hopes of reaching the Champions League final were ended, and BT Sport pundits Owen and Ferdinand felt they paid the price for a lack of cutting edge in the final third. 

When discussing Milan’s shortcomings in front of goal, Owen said: ‘Yes and of course that’s disappointing. They were outplayed throughout the tie, no question who deserved to go through over the two ties.

‘Resounding win, 3-0. AC Milan didn’t even look like scoring in that second half. They had a good half an hour at the start of the game, we thought if they can score here then it might be game on, but for the last hour it was total control.’

Ferdinand later added: ‘I don’t want to disrespect the AC Milan team too much but in the group stages you’d have never thought they could get to this stage, even getting to this point. And you see where they are in the league at the moment, they’ve done so well to get here. 

‘They were toothless and I thought Inter Milan more than deserved to go through over the two legs.’

Milan certainly started the second leg better than the first, taking the game to Inter early on and squandering a few terrific chances to take the lead on the night.

One of those golden opportunities fell to Brahim Diaz, who was left completely unmarked on the penalty spot when Sandro Tonali picked him out in the box, only to send a weak effort straight into the hands of Andre Onana.

And Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard felt Diaz simply had to do better.  

Brahim Diaz (centre) squandered a superb early opportunity for Milan in the second leg

Steven Gerrard claimed Diaz had to do better after being teed up unmarked in the penalty area

‘That was the big chance for me,’ Gerrard said. ‘They do well to regain the ball, Tonali is tenacious, drives into the box, delivers a fantastic pass at the end of it, but (Diaz) just doesn’t get a good contact on it, almost catches the grass. 

‘From Pioli’s point of view, he’ll be looking at his midfielder there to finish that off. It’s got to be a goal.’

Owen added: ‘I think he’s got to go high there. Can’t really go back to the near post. He has to be brave and go high. (Rafael Leao’s run later on) is brilliant. When someone can go inside and outside, you don’t know what they’re going to do.

‘When it’s on your left foot, the natural thing is to strike it away from goal and that was almost not a left footed finish. If he had the room to hit it with his right he would’ve done. But he didn’t have time for that. It was great play and it was unfortunate.’