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This weekend, AC Milan will potentially play the biggest game of the entire season. An away fixture against Inter. The Derby della Madonnina.
There can be a lot said about this weekend’s clash, and most of it is a mix of anticipation, nerves, optimism and pessimism. Games like this are rare in football generally. Few games in world football match the importance of the Milanese derby.
Even when you look at the recent history of this game, it has never really meant as much. Of course, that may be said with an underlying knowledge of the previous results. However, the two have never been so close in the table.
Last season, the Rossoneri were already doomed before the derby. It did not really matter. At least not in the same context. The same can really be said for the derbies until the Champions League season, and perhaps before that, the Scudetto year.
Neither team wants to lose the game, of course not. When context adds to it, though, both teams can only win, and that is the case here. Inter have a two-point lead in the table, and with the Diavolo’s record, they can really establish themselves as Scudetto candidates.
Of course, they are already well in the conversation. However, winning every game against the current top four would do wonders for the H2H at the end of the season. A chance for an advantage that points, ultimately, cannot buy.
When you look at the past few seasons, then, given the context, one would find it difficult to suggest that this is not the biggest derby for both clubs in years. Yes, you can put forward ideas, but we’ve not even considered the aspect of things off the pitch.
This will also offer both teams the chance to be the first victors over their rivals in their own stadium. Money buys the stadium, but the first win in a co-owned San Siro, money cannot buy that.
Both sets of colours will have different approaches to this game, of course, but maybe Milan can come into it with some swagger and confidence.
Highlights in a dark season
Erasing last season from memory is difficult. After all, it is the first where the Rossoneri have not achieved European football in several years. An eighth-place finish could not be made better by that night in Saudi Arabia, nor those nights at San Siro.
However, it was a bit of a coping mechanism. The season was bad, but at least there was this…
Of course, ‘this’ is the derby record. The Rossoneri played 55 games last season, yet faced their biggest rivals five times.
Not once did they add to the loss tally for the year. Win, Win, Draw, Draw, Win. Matteo Gabbia, Tammy Abraham, Luka Jovic. Each key to three big wins.
The Italian defender bagged a late header to give a first derby win in six games, of which each were defeats. A big moment for a man who was given a chance to crown a year of redemption, cementing himself further into Rossoneri hearts.
Abraham, then, wrote himself into the books with a similar story. Another late goal, another comeback in the Supercoppa Italiana, another win. Two games, two wins. Both filled with drama.
Then, Jovic. An outcast for most of the season, the Serbian took a rare opportunity with both hands and grabbed a brace in 49 minutes. A fantastic way to prove that he still had the ability which the Diavolo once gambled upon.
At one point, there were suggestions that the Nerazzurri could do the quadruple. Had they gotten results against their biggest rivals, they almost definitely would have secured a domestic treble. Instead, they ended up with nothing.
In a season of desperation, there was that light. Something to poke fun at, something which, ultimately, the Rossoneri must defend now. Inter once held the bragging rights, and now, Milan can create a streak of their own.
Of course, there have been some changes since the final game of the 2024/25 season; there have been for both teams. Nevertheless, the fact that two managers who will not be remembered at the level that Allegri is managed to topple an Inter team which has remained largely the same, also adds more to the results from last year.
Allegri’s reason to hope
Last season’s record offers a reason to be confident in itself. However, then you also look at the coach perspective, and there is more to look towards. Massimiliano Allegri, unlike Christian Chivu in this regard, is not a stranger to facing Inter on the touchline.
In fact, he has played 27 Serie A games against the Nerazzurri and only lost nine of them, two of which came during his time at Cagliari. However, it gets even better than this. Over the past 10 years, he has only lost three games against them in the league.
Just looking at the Milanese derby, his record is not as strong, winning only twice in seven Serie A games. However, you never forget your first chance, and Allegri won both games against the Nerazzurri in the first season of asking. For what it’s worth, the first game in his first season was also away from home in mid-November. Clutching? Maybe.
The second Serie A game that season wrapped up the Scudetto, with many referring to it as a masterclass. A brace from Alexandre Pato and a late confirmation from Antonio Cassano sealed the derby. One that has lived pretty comfortably in the minds of most Milanisti.
Touching briefly on Chivu, his record in the big games this season is not fantastic. Inter have lost to Juventus and Napoli this season, and whilst they grabbed a narrow win against Roma, they have not looked as comfortable in games of this magnitude.
Mentality entering these games is massive, and having someone with the expertise and experience of Allegri is an instant boost. There can be no denying that. Chivu, respectfully, does not have that same edge.
A wealth of experience and the benefits of inexperience
The last point to touch on, albeit only briefly, is the squad that Milan have. In recent years, Inter were the team of experience in Italy, and they still probably are. However, the Rossoneri are no longer the young kids on the block.
On the touchline, experience. On the sidelines, experience. Even in the boardroom with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, there is experience in these sorts of games. Allegri’s has already been spoken of, and Ibrahimovic’s speaks for itself.
Tare has experience with these games in two ways. Firstly, as a Rossonero himself, the club of his childhood. Then, in a different context, with the Rome Derby. If you needed a Maldini character at the training ground to offer advice, Tare can do that, Ibra can, Allegri can. However, they are not the only ones.
In the starting XI, Milan have now matured.
Mike Maignan, Fikayo Tomori and Rafael Leao are not newbies to the derby, nor as they inexperienced in terms of success after the turn in form. In fact, Leao is now more experienced than Ibra when it comes to games against Inter – he has played it 20 times, compared to the Swede’s 16.
However, these stats trickle down, the likes of Christian Pulisic, Gabbia, Strahinja Pavlovic and Youssouf Fofana. All have only recently come into the derby, really, at least as starters, and yet all have played a considerable number of games.
Look at Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot, too. Yes, they have not played in the Derby della Madonnina. However, Modric has played in 38 El Clásicos and 40 Madrid derbies (the most of any player, by the way) and just the seven North London Derbies, for what it’s worth.
Rabiot is no stranger to these games as well, perhaps more geographically at least, with 13 Derby d’Italia features and 14 editions of Le Classique (which many see as France’s biggest rivalry).
In other words, they don’t just have the experience of senior players. They have experience in the biggest games for their former clubs, games of this magnitude, games of this meaning.
Then, you come to the odd one out. Davide Bartesaghi. In terms of senior experience, he has never played in a Derby della Madonnina, at least not as a starter. However, this is not a bad thing, either.
Away from this game, the Italian has a point to prove to Allegri and the squad that the left-back spot is his, and this is about as big a test as any. So far, he has looked comfortable and composed, and these traits will be needed.
He also faces the biggest antagonist of the derby in recent years, Denzel Dumfries, so that in itself is a chance that he can grab with two hands. Getting the better of him would signify that he is ready for the big leagues.
Of course, there is also the fact that he is a boyhood Milanista, like Gabbia. If nothing else, he knows how much these games mean, and he will probably give that little bit more; they both will. They all will.
After all, this game does not often come with as much importance. It is a massive opportunity that the Diavolo must take.
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