Inter, on the other hand, go into the final meters of the season with a big ego. In the championship game last weekend, the defending champion turned a temporary 0:2 into a spectacular 4:2 against Empoli.
Inter after cup triumph with a tailwind
And Inter triumphed over Juventus in the Italian Cup final on Wednesday, also 4-2 from behind and a “roller coaster of emotions” (Gazzetta dello Sport). After that, a coach bursting with confidence celebrated Simone Inzaghi “a team that never gives up” – a greeting to the neighbors in the championship final sprint.
Both Milan teams are traditionally among the big names in Italian football. 3.97 million people in Italy are Inter fans, 3.86 million Milan supporters according to a recent survey by the Ipsos polling institute (ranked first in the fantable is Juventus with 8.72 million, followed by Naples with 2.78 million).
AC against Inter – a duel of opposites
The current city-internal title fight between the two Milan teams has always been a duel between two opposing football schools. On the one hand the subtle, elegant Milan on the lawn. In the red-blacks, Nils Liedholm introduced area coverage as early as the 1970s, here he did it Arrigo Sacchi from 1987 the pressing became the reference model for a new generation of coaches, inspired Guardiola, Klopp and many others.
Inter Milan stands for never giving up – and the invention of catenaccio. The result-oriented style of Helenio Herrera in the 1960s was cultivated by numerous successors, such as Giovanni Trapattoni, Jose Mourinho or lastly Antonio Conte. It was always about strong defence, dangerous counterattacks, high fighting spirit and a lot of mentality.
A style that now has the second star on the Inter shirt could bring – the badge of honor for the then 20th Italian championship title. Before the season, this was the declared aim of the Black and Blues. And as defending champions, they were automatically among the championship favorites, despite prominent departures like Romelu Lukaku, Achraf Hakimi and coach Antonio Conte.
With Simone Inzaghi, Inter took one of the most successful Italian coaches of recent years from Lazio, but above all Hakan came Calhanoğlu (from local rivals Milan!), Oranje-star Denzel Dumfries and the still accurate Edin Dzeko. In winter, the champions brought in the long-injured German national player Robin Gosens.
The financial Cinderella AC Milan
On the AC Milan as champions, on the other hand, only had people with a penchant for outsider tips in the summer. Contracts with key service providers such as goalkeepers Gianluigi Donnarumma and the one mentioned Hakan Calhanoğlu had not been extended for cost reasons. Gone are the financially opulent years under Silvio Berlusconi, who used his favorite club as a toy and for three decades imagemaintained.
Among the top clubs in Serie A is the AC Milan meanwhile the financial Cinderella. The leader is spending 175 million euros on his team this season, around half less than fourth-placed Juventus Turin (370 million) – and still a third less than local rivals Inter (260 million). Result of an austerity course at Milan, which the club owners, the US investment company Elliottwith their acquisition in 2018.
Italy’s Champions League record winner was thus able to polish its balance sheet and reduce its deficit from 195 million in 2020 to 96 million in 2021. The fact that Milan has now become interesting for a group of investors from Bahrain is another matter.