AC vs Inter Milan, the Derby della Madonnina is on Sunday (05.02.23). For decades it has been the sporting top-class inner-city duel in Italian football. Milan clubs have won a total of 38 league titles and ten Champions League trophies. There was a period that was crucial for the Derby della Madonnina to become so significant.
If you want to find out everything about the derby in Milan, you need an encyclopedia or a good internet search engine. Or Nicola Cecere. The former reporter for “Gazzetta dello Sport” is sitting in his living room near the Parco Sempione and is looking forward to it: “Derby day is public holiday in Milan”.
A game divides the city
“Rossonero” or “Nerazzurro”, AC Milan or Inter Milan. The city is divided exactly in two for the derby, says Cecere, who has had his job in the San Siro Stadium for over 30 years, first accompanying Milan and then Inter as a reporter. from one “great and deep-rooted football culture” was shaped by Milan, says the Gazzetta legend, “in every family, in every house, one belongs either to one side or to the other”.
The Derby della Madonnina, named after the small gilded statue of the Madonna atop the city’s cathedral, has been a celebration of Calcio for more than a century. Milan was already at the front when Italian football was learning to walk. AC Milan won three of the first ten championships (1901, 1906, 1907). When FC Internazionale broke away from Milan in 1908, two years later they also won their first title.
Upswing in Milan brings football forward
However, Milan established itself as the capital of Italian (and partly also European) football in the 1950s and 60s. Cecere explains that the city’s rise to become a world-famous football metropolis is closely linked to Milan’s social and economic history.
The north Italian metropolis was the center of the Italian economic boom after the war. Many workers, especially from the south of the country, flocked to the city. Since comparatively good wages were paid in Milan, says Cecere, who himself comes from the south, “the workers could afford the ticket to the stadium to watch football games”. The San Siro Stadium became a place of pilgrimage.
“Always on top”
Also because in the golden 1950s and 60s for Milan there were entrepreneurs in the city who were willing to put their money into one of the two football clubs. Publishing mogul Andrea Rizzoli for Milan and oil magnate Angelo Moratti for Inter, both also ardent supporters of their clubs, lured the top players from Europe and South America to Milan.
With the result that Milan and Inter won the Italian championship eleven times between 1950 and 1970 and also the European Cup four times. Always driven, says Cecere, by Milanese ambition, “always on top, always to be the first”.
During these years, Milan and Inter also formed their footballing DNA. Milan conquered the Scudetti in the 1950s with attacking football and the legendary attacking trio of Gre-No-Lin, Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl (still Milan’s top scorer of all time with 221 goals in 268 games) and Nils Liedholm. Captain was Cesare Maldini, father of the later Milan record player Paolo Maldini. Gianni Rivera and Co. subsequently refined the elegant Milan football, and in the 1990s Arrigo Sacchis Milan became an icon of the beautiful game worldwide.
clubs at eye level
The black-blue side of the city, on the other hand, relies on mentality, coolness and results football. It was invented by Helenio Herrera – also in the style-defining 1950s and 60s. Born in Argentina, he relied on a football tactic that had been part of all Italian football for decades: catenaccio. Subsequent coaches maintained Herrera traditions. With Giovanni Trapattoni (as well as Lothar Matthäus and Andy Brehme) Inter managed the championship including a record point in 1989, with José Mourinho in 2010 the Champions League triumph, with Antonio Conte in 2021 winning the title in Serie A after an eleven-year break.
The fan camps in Milan – which is also unusual compared to other derbies – are balanced, both clubs have been almost exactly on an equal footing for decades. According to the annual Ipsos survey, there are currently 4.16 million active Milan fans across Italy, and Inter support 3.91 million fans. For the current season, Inter sold 41,000 season tickets, Milan 40,500. There is a perfect tie in the championship titles, both Milan and Inter have won the Scudetto 19 times. Inter last in 2021, Milan the year after. Only internationally Milan is clearly ahead. The red-blacks have won the Champions League and the National Champion Cup seven times and the UEFA Cup five times. Inter have lifted Europe’s top football trophy three times and the UEFA Cup three times.
Peaceful derby with an espresso together
Another hallmark of the Derby della Madonnina: the rivalry between the two clubs has been largely peaceful since the 1970s. In the days leading up to the derby, everyone proudly shows off their supporters, there’s teasing, and the opposing side is being teased. And during the game, the San Siro is louder than any other stadium. But that’s about it. Before and after, Milan and Inter fans drink their espresso together in the baretto under the north stand.
When a derby had to be abandoned in 2005, it was due to Pyros being thrown onto the pitch from the Inter curve. The trigger was not the opposing fans, but the anger at the decisions of the German referee Markus Merk, who, among other things, had refused to recognize a goal by Inter.
Incidentally, derby expert Cecere predicts a victory for the recently weak Milan for the duel on Sunday. The champions have just been sent home 5-2 by relegation candidate Sassuolo. While things have been going quite well for Inter since the restart. But a rule of the Derby della Madonnina, Cecere reveals, is that the team that was previously in worse shape often wins.