Simone Inzaghi bemoaned Inter's 2-1 loss to fierce rivals Milan and admitted his players learned a "tough lesson" as the Scudetto title race was blown wide open.
Inter were heading seven points clear at the top of Serie A with a game in hand after Ivan Perisic's first-half volley put them in control of Saturday's Derby della Madonnina.
The Nerazzurri continued to dominate for large parts of the match and would have been further ahead if not for Mike Maignan, who pulled off four big saves in the first half.
However, Inter were punished for failing to kill off the contest when Olivier Giroud scored a quickfire double at San Siro in his first taste of this famous fixture.
Giroud slid in at the back post to level up the game on 75 minutes and added a second three minutes later, becoming the first Frenchman to score twice against Inter in Serie A.
After falling to a barely believable first home league loss since October 2020 – also against Milan – Inzaghi was left to wonder just how his side chucked away the points.
"This is football. We dominated in every way but weren't sharp at the end. They were lucky on the first goal and were smart on the second," he said.
"I saw a derby with one-way traffic for 60 minutes. In the final 25 minutes, we weren't as sharp or as in control, and the game was more open to individual incidents.
"We know it's a defeat that hurts, but strong teams must be able to analyse their errors.
"If we played it again 10 times, we might lose it once. We all know how important the derby is; we didn't deserve to lose, but that is football.
"Until the equaliser, we had allowed Milan practically nothing. It's a tough lesson, but a valuable one to make us more determined to kill off games so this doesn't happen again."
Inter's players were unhappy that Giroud's first goal was allowed to stand as they felt that he barged into former Arsenal team-mate Alexis Sanchez earlier in the attack.
But Inzaghi accepted Inter only had themselves to blame after falling to just a second league loss to Milan – who lost Theo Hernandez to a late red card – in their last 12 meetings.
"The lads got irritated at the equaliser, as there was probably a clear foul on Alexis Sanchez and we lost our focus," he said.
"We should've scored the second goal, while Alexis Sanchez was barged off the pitch practically by Giroud on the goal.
"But the fact remains if we had taken more of our chances, [the Giroud incident] wouldn’t have mattered. It's not a problem, it was a challenge.
"If you think it's fair, that's fine. It's not the issue – the lads lost their focus a bit after that incident and that's the problem. The referee let a lot go."
Saturday's defeat was Inter's first to Milan in the league after leading in the game since February 2004 and leaves them just one point clear, albeit with a game in hand.
Samir Handanovic, whose 30 Serie A appearances against Milan is the most of any current player against another in the competition, echoed the thoughts of his head coach.
"Today we did everything. We had the game under control and played well," he told Inter TV. "But then we lost a few too many balls and were punished.
"There are many more games and the mistakes have to be reviewed. It must be understood why we managed the last 15 minutes like we did.
"Sometimes you take risks and you are not punished; today we took risks and were punished."
Rangers 1-4 Lyon: Lacazette and Fofana at the double as Clement's men outclassed
Malick Fofana and Alexandre Lacazette each scored twice as Lyon outclassed Rangers 4-1 in the Europa League at Ibrox on Thursday.
Former Arsenal striker Lacazette scored twice before the break after Tom Lawrence had earlier cancelled out Fofana's opener in Glasgow, with the latter also netting again in the second half.
Vaclav Cerny was punished for woefully blazing over the bar when Fofana bent home on the rebound from the hugely impressive Rayan Cherki's shot after 10 minutes.
Lawrence quickly prodded home the equaliser when Cyriel Dessers was denied, but an awful error from Connor Barron led to Fofana laying on a simple finish for Lacazette.
The Frenchman then made it 3-1 with a whipped 25-yard stunner before the break and Fofana poked home Cherki's low cross at the back post to add more gloss shortly after the restart.
Duje Caleta-Car saw a header thunder off the crossbar and Corentin Tolisso had a shot cleared off the line, while substitute Said Benrahma was also denied as Lyon pushed to really emphasise their dominance of proceedings.
Data Debrief: Lyon forwards tormentors in chief
Rangers, who won impressively at Malmo on MD1, just had no answer for the dynamism of a Lyon side who are now two from two and second in the table.
Lacazette was playing his 50th game in the Europa League and scored his 23rd and 24th goals in the competition. Only Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (34) and Aritz Aduriz (26) have scored more since his first appearance in September 2012.
Cherki set up both of Fofana's goals in an excellent display and has six goal involvements in only five Europa League starts (three goals, three assists), while Fofana scored and assisted in the same game for the first time for Lyon.
Rangers have a night to forget and this represented only the first time in the Europa League/UEFA Cup they have conceded four goals at home, and only the third time overall.
City striker 'Bunny' Shaw targets more success with hopes of inspiring young girls in Jamaica
Despite achieving much of what she set out to already, Reggae Girl and Manchester City striker Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw intends to keep pushing the barriers and she hopes to inspire others to chase their dreams.
Shaw, who has overcome her fair share of obstacles and tragedies to get to where she is at, has been a role model for young athletes in Jamaica and the Caribbean, particularly aspiring women’s football players, as she continues to impress on the international stage and in the Women's Super League (WSL) since her move to City in 2021.
The 27-year-old ended last season as the WSL’s top scorer, assisting the Gareth Taylor-coached side to the runners-up position behind champions Chelsea, merely on goal difference.
Her performances throughout that campaign, which was cut short by a broken leg, also saw her cop the PFA Women's Players' Player of the year and the FWA Women's Footballer of the Year awards.
"When I look back at my childhood, I didn’t really have a lot of people I could look to, apart from Usain Bolt, of course. I didn’t have a lot of people who I could look to and say, ‘I want to be like that.’ One of the main reasons was that I wasn’t really allowed to play," Shaw said in an interview with BBC Sport.
“Now, looking at where the game is and where it is going, I think there is more room for that. For me, it’s just being alive and being in the moment. It’s staying true to who I am. Hopefully, by doing that each and every day, it works out in the end,” she added.
Black History Month in England, celebrated throughout the month of October, continues to shine a spotlight on athletes who have broken barriers to achieve success.
With her accolades and accomplishments speaking for themselves, Shaw is aiming to continue setting the standard for others to follow.
"I just try to be the best I can be and hope that by doing that, there are others looking on [who can] see that if I can do it, then it’s possible. Hopefully I can inspire a lot of the young girls back home in Jamaica that it is definitely possible,” the two-time Ballon d'Or award nominee shared.
"It’s been a long journey for me. I had to travel around the world to get here. Now I am here, I’m just embracing the moment and loving every part of it. The ups and downs are parts of life and that’s how you grow as a person. But I just try to be the best that I can and hopefully inspire more girls,” Shaw noted.
Chelsea 4-2 Gent: Veiga and Dewsbury-Hall off the mark in Conference League cracker
Renato Veiga and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall each scored their first Chelsea goals in a cracking 4-2 victory over Gent in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.
Enzo Maresca decided to make wholesale changes in the Blues' opening match of the league phase of Europe's third-tier competition, but they were still a class above their Belgian opponents.
Full-back Veiga headed Chelsea into a 12th-minute lead after Mykhailo Mudryk stood up a brilliant cross from the right and Dewsbury-Hall fired into the side-netting when he ought to have scored soon after.
Despite their domination of the ball, it took the Blues until the 46th minute to double their lead when Pedro Neto took hold of Axel Disasi's long punt and fired into the roof of the goal.
Some slack Chelsea defending was punished when Tsuyoshi Watanabe headed in from the cross of Andri Gudjohnsen, son of Blues great Eidur.
Christopher Nkunku rifled home from just inside the area after Gent failed to clear their lines just after the hour and Dewsbury-Hall shot straight through the goalkeeper after Nkunku was tackled attempting to take a shot – with Omri Gandelman celebrating a late consolation for the visitors.
Data Debrief: Dewsbury-Hall stakes his Chelsea claim
This was a great chance for a few Chelsea players to stake their claim for more regular Premier League minutes and Dewsbury-Hall put in an industrious performance to do his chances no harm.
Signed from Leicester City in the last transfer window, the centre midfielder had four shots in total, three of which were in the box, and scored from his one big chance. He also had an impressive 91.2% pass accuracy.
Neto too had a very lively outing, creating five chances in total and finishing with a pass accuracy rate of 97%.
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