Internazionale, AC Milan finish goalless at San Siro

Claudio Villa - Inter/Getty Images

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Fallen giants Inter Milan and AC Milan remain mired in mid-table obscurity after Sunday's Derby della Madonnina ended goalless.

The second San Siro showdown of the Serie A season was not without incident, however, with both sides feeling the pain of having goals disallowed.

Milan defender Philippe Mexes breathed the deepest sigh of relief after his second-half own goal was chalked off due to a controversial foul from Inter striker Rodrigo Palacio.

The draw shuffles the Rossoneri and Nerazzurri onto 43 and 42 points respectively although their lowly league positions of ninth and 10th are unchanged.

Fifth place, the nearest European berth, is seven points beyond Milan's reach with seven games left.

Inter enjoyed the territorial gains in the early exchanges and produced the first shot on target in the 11th minute as Hernanes blasted a long-range drive against the diving Diego Lopez.

Three minutes later Milan responded, Jeremy Menez accelerating to leave Andrea Ranocchia and Nemanja Vidic spinning before unleashing a daisy-cutter that Juan Jesus did well to clear.

Milan kept pushing and Suso got Samir Handanovic working with an accurate left-footed attempt.

Camped out in their opponents' half the Rossoneri would get the ball over the goal-line in the 29th minute, but Alex's conversion from a Suso free-kick was ruled out for offside.

Handanovic scrambled to repel another Menez effort as Milan turned the screw with half-time approaching, and at the other end Lopez risked letting Mauro Icardi in before regaining possession.

The game was there to be seized when play resumed and Inter looked the team most likely to do so with Luca Antonelli forced into a desperate goal-line clearance when Rodrigo Palacio came knocking.

The Argentinian was heavily involved in the next move, sweeping up Mateo Kovavic's ball and delivering a first-time cross that Hernanes saw deflect off Antonelli and loop wide from close range.

It was one-way traffic by the time Icardi tried to turn Palacio's pass beyond Lopez in the 68th minute and moments later the ball was in the back of Milan's net.

Cheers rang around the black-and-blue half of the stadium after Mexes appear to clumsily knock the ball into his own net, but referee Luca Banti ruled the goal out for Palacio's pull on Marco van Ginkel.

Spurred on to cover for the disappointment, Inter kept plundering forward and Ranocchia really should have clipped home from two yards out during a defensive scramble.

Lopez had to be at full stretch to repel Jesus' left-footer from the edge of the box and it seemed only a matter of time until Inter would make the breakthrough.

Milan, however, managed to break out of their own half during the final exchanges. They failed to threaten Handanovic again but Inter's siege fizzled and full-time signalled the points would be shared.