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The Derby della Madonnina is on the cards, with AC Milan looking to leapfrog their city rivals Inter in the league standings. However, as always in a derby, it will be a tough game.
Serie A is back with a bang this weekend, following the international break, as Inter will host Milan at San Siro. The Rossoneri are eager to bounce back and prove themselves after the 2-2 draw against Parma, while the Nerazzurri can extend their H2H lead in the standings to five points.
During his press conference, Massimiliano Allegri admitted that it will be a tough game and that Inter are the favourites to win. However, as he was keen to point out, this doesn’t mean that Milan don’t have a chance in the game; quite the opposite.
Game date: Sunday, November 23
Kick-off time: 20:45 (CET)
Venue: San Siro
Referee: Marco Sozza (VAR: Gianluca Aureliano)
Team news
As confirmed during the aforementioned press conference, Milan will only have two absences for the game: Zachary Athekame and Santiago Gimenez. The right-back sustained a calf injury while on international duty, and the striker is still recovering from his ankle injury.
All things considered, however, Allegri can be very happy with the injury situation. Christian Pulisic and Ardon Jashari both got 90 minutes in the friendly against Virtus Entella during the break, while Adrien Rabiot returned to group training earlier this week.
The Frenchman’s return is crucial for the Rossoneri and as Allegri also confirmed during the presser, he will play from the first minute. The hope is that he will help restore much-needed balance for the team, following a few weeks with too many goals conceded.
Taking a look at the full predicted XI, there will be one at the back as Fikayo Tomori will be back in action, replacing Koni De Winter to the right. The Belgian received mixed reviews after the Parma draw, but the Englishman has been solid so far.
Further up the pitch, the aforementioned Rabiot will be playing from the first minute and sadly for Samuele Ricci, that means he will be on the bench. Allegri still feels that Youssouf Fofana is doing more good than harm, opting for him instead of the Italian.
On the left-hand side, there has been a battle between Davide Bartesaghi and Pervis Estupinan over the last few days. By all accounts, however, the academy product has won the battle and will thus make his first derby appearance from start; a dream come true, without a doubt.
Finally, Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic will team up in attack for the first time in Serie A this season. It would have happened much earlier if it hadn’t been for injuries, but now both of them are in good condition. Hopefully, they will link up well and do some damage to Inter’s backline.
Predicted Milan XI (3-5-2): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Modric, Rabiot, Bartesaghi; Pulisic, Leao.
Bench: Terracciano, Pittarella, De Winter, Odogu, Estupinan, Jashari, Loftus-Cheek, Ricci, Nkunku.
Injuries & suspensions: Athekame and Gimenez.
The opponents
Following what was a disappointing 2024-25 season, failing to win a single trophy, Inter parted ways with Simone Inzaghi. It was the end of an era in many ways for the Nerazzurri who, instead of going for an experienced name, appointed Cristian Chivu as their new head coach.
The Romanian had just guided Parma to safety in Serie A, hired by the Gialloblu in February to salvage the situation, and Inter were impressed with what they saw. On top of that, Chivu was the manager of Inter’s Primavera side between 2021 and 2024.
In short, while Inter definitely went against the norm in the summer (Milan took Allegri, Roma took Gian Piero Gasperini, and Napoli retained Antonio Conte), it wasn’t completely out of the blue. The situation was also ‘made better’ by the fact that they kept a lot of their stars over the summer.
Nicola Zalewski, Benjamin Pavard, Mehdi Taremi and Joaquin Correa were the most notable departures, which says a lot. Furthermore, the likes of Ange-Yoan Bonny, Luis Henrique, Andy Diouf, Petar Sucic and Manuel Akanji were brought in to strengthen the team.
The easy conclusion here is that Inter have remained more or less the same, in fact you could even argue the squad is better this time out. And so far, the managerial switch hasn’t affected the performances negatively, meaning they are in a good place.
Shifting focus to the game, Chivu will be able to rely on a strong squad, even if there are two pretty big absences to note: Mkhitaryan and Dumfries. While the former has done well in derbies too, the Dutchman’s absence is the biggest blow to Chivu’s plans, without a doubt.
The latest reports suggest that Carlos Augusto will cover for Dumfries, which is interesting as he’s a left-back and left-footed. It at least shows that Inter don’t have full faith in Henrique’s defensive abilities. In defence, Yann Aurel Bisseck is also currently favoured over Francesco Acerbi.
Predicted Inter XI (3-5-2): Sommer; Bisseck, Akanji, Bastoni; Augusto, Barella, Calhanoglu, Zielinski, Dimarco; Lautaro Martinez, Thuram.
Predicted bench: Martinez, Taho, De Vrij, Acerbi, Darmian, Luis Henrique, Sucic, Frattesi, Diouf, Bonny, Esposito.
Injuries & suspensions: Mkhitaryan and Dumfries.
Head to head
In Derby della Madonnina’s history, there have been a total of 228 matches with 74 wins for Milan, 85 for Inter and 69 draws. The Nerazzurri have dominated the fixture in recent times, even if the Rossoneri won three and drew two of the five games in the 2024-25 season.
Last season’s success ended a six-game losing run (!) for Milan in the derby, meaning it was long overdue. It was also a wake-up call of sorts for Inter, who had become very used to celebrating three points on derby days.
As mentioned, there were five encounters last season, with the most recent one being the Coppa Italia semi-final. It ended 3-0 in favour of Milan, following a brace from Luka Jovic, and it saw them through to the final with a 4-1 win on aggregate (1-1 in the first semi-final leg).
The most recent league encounter with Inter as the designated home side, however, was in September last year. It was a much-needed win for Milan and Paulo Fonseca at the time, which they had Matteo Gabbia’s 2-1 winner to thank for. Christian Pulisic also scored a nice goal.
Key facts and stats
➤ With Inter as the designated home side, there have been 110 official derbies since the start of the 1929/30 season, with 42 Inter wins (the most recent 5-1, in the 2023/24 Serie A season), 35 draws (the most recent 2-2, in the 2016/17 Serie A season), and 33 Milan wins (the most recent 3-0, in last year’s Coppa Italia).
➤ Inter’s last draw as the designated home side in the Derby della Madonnina was on April 15, 2017. It was a 2-2 draw in Serie A, with initial goals from Candreva and Icardi, followed by a Rossoneri comeback thanks to Romagnoli and Zapata. Since then, 13 derbies have taken place, with nine Nerazzurri wins and four Rossoneri wins.
➤ Milan have won their last two derbies as the away side: 1-2 in Serie A and 0-3 in the Coppa Italia in the 2024/25 season. The Rossoneri hadn’t won two consecutive derby games away from home since 2003-2005. Back then, they had three: 1-3 in the 2003/04 season, 0-1 in the 2004/05 season, and 0-3 in the 2004/05 Champions League (a forfeit).
➤ In the 3-point-for-a-win era (from 1994/95 to today), Andriy Shevchenko has scored the most goals in the Milan derby (14), followed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic (10, including 2 for Inter and 8 for AC Milan), and Lautaro Martinez (third with 9) is also on the podium.
➤ Inter have scored in all 15 competitive matches of the 2025/26 season, 11 in Serie A and four in the Champions League: a total of 37 goals for the Nerazzurri.
➤ Inter are the team in Serie A that have scored the most goals in the first 15 minutes of play (5) and also in the final 15 minutes of matches plus injury time (5, also in this case, tied with Juventus).
➤ Of 55 possible substitutions in 11 matchdays, AC Milan are the team that have made the fewest: 39.
➤ Cristian Chivu and Massimiliano Allegri will meet for the first time as coaches. November is the month in which Allegri’s teams perform best: the Livorno-born coach averages 2.21 points per game, thanks to a record of 44 wins, 14 draws, and 8 defeats in 66 matches.
➤ AC Milan are one of the five teams in the 2025/26 Serie A season that have taken the most penalties: 3, the same number as Pisa, Napoli, Sassuolo, and Fiorentina.
➤ As a coach, Massimiliano Allegri has been involved in 26 derbies, 8 of which were in Milan (with 3 wins for AC Milan, 1 draw, and 4 wins for the Nerazzurri) and 18 in Turin (with 13 wins for the Bianconeri, 4 draws, and 1 win for the Granata).
Ones to watch
Given how much he has been mentioned in the build-up to this game, I simply have to pick Rabiot as the first Milan player here. We all know how well he did before the injury and, above all, how it allowed the Rossoneri to play. Hopefully, he will have a similar impact tomorrow.
The next pick is actually two players (I’m breaking the rules, I know), but it will be very interesting to see how Leao and Pulisic will link up. None of them are classic No.9s, even if the American has proven to be lethal in front of goal, so movement will likely be key tomorrow.
For Inter, it looks like Bisseck will be fielded from the first minute instead of the experienced Francesco Acerbi. You probably cannot call it a bold choice given how much the centre-back has played, but it will still be interesting to see how he will handle the Milan forwards.
Finally, while a lot of eyes will be on Lautaro, we cannot afford to forget Thuram either. He has done well in more than one derby and giving him too much space will definitely be punished. In short, the defence shouldn’t get too hung up on Lautaro.
Prediction
A derby is always incredibly tough to predict. Last season, Inter were massive favourites and they still failed to win a single clash against Milan. This time out, the teams are closer to each other and that’s what makes it so interesting.
Nevertheless, I’m going to have to go with my heart on this one, so a 2-1 win for Milan. I think Leao and Pulisic will have a good game, while Rabiot’s return will help limit Inter’s movement on the counter-attacks.
Inter 1-2 Milan
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