"Why should we apologize to the fans? Do you think we lost on purpose? Do you think we wanted to lose the derby? Do you think we wanted to concede five goals to Inter?" an irate Stefano Pioli said after his AC Milan was hammered 5-1 by bitter rivals Inter Milan on Saturday.
"We're disappointed. We wanted to give something else to our fans, we didn't manage that. I think you have to apologize when you've done something wrong, we tried to do everything we could."
The Milan teams were the only ones with maximum points in Serie A coming into the Derby della Madonnina. However, Inter found a new star player with a familiar name in Serie A as Marcus Thuram helped the Nerazzurri triumph over its fierce rival. The victory also helped Inter to maintain their perfect start to the season.
Thuram's father Lilian, who won the World Cup with France in 1998, played as a defender for Parma and Juventus.
Inter is now the only team to have won its four opening matches and the Nerazzurri moved two points ahead of Juventus, which beat Lazio 3-1 earlier. Milan is three points behind Inter.
AC Milan, on the other hand, lost its last five derbies with the latest being the heaviest in 14 years.
Marcus Thuram scored a superb goal on Saturday to double Inter's lead shortly before halftime, having had a significant hand in the fifth-minute opener. That was netted by Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who also scored Inter's third after Rafael Leo had got Milan back into the game amid a torrential downpour at San Siro.
Former Milan midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu added a penalty 11 minutes from time and Davide Frattesi capped a great night for Inter in stoppage time.
It was Thuram's second Inter goal in as many matches. He also has three assists in his four matches since joining on a free transfer from Borussia Mnchengladbach.
Inter coach Simone Inzaghi was asked if Thuram could become a better player than former Nerazzurri star Romelu Lukaku.
"This is clearly a comparison that time will tell," Inzaghi responded with a laugh. "I don't think it's right to talk about individuals.
"Thuram was really good, he has to continue like this, he's fitting in very well, he's always ready but it's reductive to talk about individuals tonight after we saw the whole squad working so well."
Defending champion Napoli is five points behind Inter after coming back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Genoa.
Inter got off to a great start as Thuram used his strength to hold off Milan defender Malick Thiaw and put in a low cross for Federico Dimarco, whose attempt at a shot was volleyed in by Mkhitaryan.
Thuram got on the scoresheet himself in the 38th minute when collected an overhit pass from Denzel Dumfries on the left side of the area and he was perhaps expected to cross but instead he cut past Thiaw and curled a sensational strike into the top right corner.
The rain began to fall heavily in the second half and Milan managed to get back into the match 12 minutes after the break as Leo slotted home an inspired pass from Olivier Giroud. It was the first time Inter had conceded this season.
However, Inter restored its two-goal advantage in the 69th when Mkhitaryan finished off a good team move and the Nerazzurri sealed the result when alhanoglu blasted home a penalty after Tho Hernandez tripped Lautaro Martnez.
Frattesi, who scored two goals for Italy against Ukraine in the same stadium on Tuesday, capped a great week with his first Inter goal.
