All eyes on Milan derby

Opinion

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This article was published 15/09/2023 (723 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I recently showed my hockey-crazed nephew (a Bruins fan, but we won’t hold it against him) a paper copy of La Gazzetta dello Sport. Each year I subscribe him to The Hockey News — biweekly during the NHL season — and I wanted to see his reaction when presented with a similar-sized publication that comes out daily.

The jaw-hits-floor cliche has rarely been so appropriate.

Think hockey, baseball or gridiron football players and teams are heavily scrutinized? Compared with their calcio counterparts, they enjoy enviable anonymity — especially during the build-up to high-profile matches, such as Saturday’s Derby della Madonnina.

For example, if you were to buy Saturday’s Gazzetta (or Corriere dello Sport, or Tuttosport – there are three), your two dollars would furnish you with no fewer than 10 pieces of preview content, from full-length articles to columns to analytics, not including the front page. You’d see an image with expected line-ups in formation, statistical pie charts, player profiles, manager interviews, intricate tactical diagrams and reports on stadium condition and the game’s referee.

Given that today’s derby opponents, Inter and AC Milan, are both unbeaten to start the Serie A schedule, and also Italian champions within the past three years, the pre-kickoff surveys and audits will be even more earnest than usual.

It goes without saying that we can’t replicate such scope in this space, although we can maybe touch on the themes that will be prominent throughout Lombardy this weekend. Just try to imagine each of these quick hits as a full page, and you’ll get the idea of what a reader in Parco Sempione will be paging through ahead of the derby.

Team records: You really couldn’t wish for a more compelling Derby della Madonnina so early in the season. Inter and Milan are 3-0-0 and tied for first place in Serie A, though Inter lead on goal difference.

Expected starting line-ups: The major talking point is Davide Frattesi’s likely omission from the Nerazzurri XI. Despite scoring both Italy goals in Tuesday’s 2-1 Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine, the newly acquired midfielder will almost certainly begin on the bench as Inter manager Simone Inzaghi keeps the faith in an unchanged side. Milan boss Stefano Pioli, meanwhile, will restore defender Simon Sjaer as Fikayo Tomori is suspended.

INTER (3-5-2) Sommer; Darmian, De Vrij, Bastoni; Dumphries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Martinez. MILAN (4-3-3) Maignan; Calabria, Kjaer, Thiaw, Hernandez; Loftus-Cheek, Krunic, Reijnders; Pulisic, Giroud, Leao.

Key numbers: Eight – both teams have scored eight goals in Serie A this term. Zero – Inter have yet to concede. Five – Inter’s Lautauro Martinez leads the Italian top flight in scoring, followed by Milan’s Olivier Giroud, with four goals.

Press conferences: “(Milan) impressed a lot in the first matches, like us. We are only on the fourth matchday of the league, but it’s a match we want to do well in. Beating Milan represents a lot for the club, for us and our fans.” – Inzaghi (Gazzetta) “I don’t care [about losing the previous four derbies], otherwise we could say that two years ago we won the scudetto and they didn’t…I saw a lot of attention in preparing for the match, but also serenity, especially from the new players.” – Pioli (Corriere)

Head-to-head: Inter wing-back Federico Dimarco could get a lot of joy down the left-hand side, and if Loftus-Cheek is too often required to drift wide to contain him, Milan will be uncomfortably stretched. That said, Rossoneri left-back Theo Hernandez might fancy his matchup with Denzel Dumfries. Nicolo Barella vs. Rade Krunic in the centre of the park will be fascinating.

In context: It’s hard to make this a “must-win” match so early in the campaign, but Milan have lost the last four derbies without scoring a single goal. Another Inter triumph would certainly deal a psychological blow. Juventus will have played Lazio earlier in the day, and a win would put them top. No doubt the Bianconeri will be hoping for a draw at San Siro.

Referee: Don’t expect Simone Sozza to keep his cards in his pocket. Only once last season did a team escape a match without being shown at least a yellow from the 36-year-old, though he only presented the red card once. Both Milan teams were unbeaten in matches he oversaw last season.

Kick-off: Saturday, 11 a.m. at San Siro, Milan. Broadcast in Canada on FuboTV.

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