Honours Even in Derby, but Lack of Quality a Concern for Milan and Inter

The real winners in Sunday's 1-1 draw between Milan and Inter were the fans.

A sold out San Siro set the stage, but the match ultimately couldn't deliver as both sides struggled to play fluid football and a comedy of errors, especially on the defensive end, led to dangerous opportunities for both sides.

Both teams struggled in the midfield, and often times the play became jumbled and uncoordinated, especially when pushed on into the attacking third. The final ball was often lacking once one of the teams got themselves into a decent position.

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Also, Milan and Inter had chances in the second half to give their respective team three points but were denied by the crossbar.

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Stephan El Shaarawy found himself in a one-on-one position against Samir Handanovic, but he clanged the ball on the upright as he shot it centrally and right over the Slovenian keeper.

Shortly after, Mauro Icardi nearly connected on a spectacular volley, but the ball was on its way up and it was very difficult for the Argentinian-born striker to keep it lower.

For Milan, injuries to Nigel De Jong, Ignazio Abate, Riccardo Montolivo and Alex meant that an already thin side had to dig deep into the bench and shake things around.

Credit Filippo Inzaghi for using Adil Rami as a right-back. At first, it seemed odd but the Frenchman actually did very well playing away from his usual central-defensive position. The same cannot be said for some of his teammates.

Sulley Muntari was sloppy as the holding midfielder in front of the back line. You simply cannot lose possession in the manner in which he does and put your defense in a dire position.

Other than Muntari, Cristian Zapata's assist to Obi for Inter's goal was suicidal for the Rossoneri.

Zapata had to clear the ball away from his own box but made awkward contact with it and it ended up right on the edge of the box into the path of Obi, who did well to shoot it into the far corner, away from the flailing hands of Diego Lopez.

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For a derby that has such a great appeal in European football, the stars did not shine as brightly. This isn't to say that it has lost some of its magic. The entire city of Milan closes down when the two sides meet and the San Siro had more than 80,000 spectators on hand, but they didn't get the show they paid for in technical terms.

As it stands, both Milan sides are struggling to get out of the mid-table, and the one point accrued against each other won't do too much to catapult them into the top five and into European contention.

Apart from that, it's becoming more and more glaring just how much of a difference there is between both Milan sides and Juventus. The conversation becomes even more depressing for Milan and Inter when you see just how much the bianconeri have been struggling in Europe against some of the top sides.