Champions League: Season on the line for Inter and AC Milan in semi-final showdown – ‘It will be revenge’

Marco Materazzi stands leaning on the shoulder of Manuel Rui Costa. One player dressed in the black and blue of Inter, the other in the red and black of AC Milan. They stare towards a wall of red smoke.

It’s a picture that captures the imagination, as these two fiercest of rivals pause in a moment of cooperative calm amid the chaos.

The reality was less romantic, though. This ‘Derby della Madonnina’, in the Champions League quarter-finals, was abandoned after flares were thrown on the pitch by Inter fans, one striking Milan keeper Dida, and the Rossoneri were eventually awarded a 3-0 win.

Eighteen years have passed since then, and everybody will hope that those ugly scenes of violence remain a thing of the past.

Nevertheless, the picture has become a part of the legend of this fixture, and also serves as a timewarp to an era when Serie A dominated in Europe.

In that game, Milan had Andriy Shevchenko, Cafu, Kaka, Paolo Maldini, Andrea Pirlo and Alessandro Nesta in their ranks, while Inter boasted talents like Adriano, Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso and Juan Sebastian Veron.

Line-ups of that calibre have unfortunately become a thing of the past as Serie A’s world-leading status has declined.

But is a first Milan Derby semi-final in 20 years a sign of change? Are the glory days coming back?

‘Calcio is back’ – but is it?

The official Serie A Twitter account would like you to believe so, as it published a video ahead of the quarter-finals in which Fabio Capello proclaimed ‘Calcio is back’ in the plush surroundings of the La Scala opera house in Milan.

However, the financial gulf between the Italian top-flight and the Premier League remains enormous.

The value of the domestic TV rights deal for Serie A is around half that of in England, while the financial firepower – or lack of – of its clubs is underlined by a total transfer spend this season of €832m compared to €3bn in the Premier League.

That’s before you even get to the myriad of other issues with infrastructure, racism, violence and youth development that continue to cause problems on the peninsula.

That said, Inter and Milan have still managed to build strong enough teams to win the Scudetto over the last two years and their runs this season have restored pride in a country that has seen too many embarrassments on the European front in recent years.

Gazzetta dello Sport’s front page called it a ‘Derbissimo’ for good reason – this will be the first time either club has featured in the last four since they last won it – for Inter in 2010, for Milan in 2007.

Milan ‘in their habitat’

Seven-time European champions AC Milan’s past glories in the competition were highlighted after their 2-1 aggregate win over a Napoli side who came into the quarter-final as hot favourites, but having never reached that stage before.

Two disciplined defensive displays lit up by clinical Rafael Leao-inspired counter-attacks were enough to send Milan through, and they were seconds away from a sixth consecutive Champions League clean sheet before Victor Osimhen’s stoppage-time strike.

Newspaper Il Giornale said it was “Milan in their habitat”, while Capello, who led the Rossoneri to the Champions League title in 1993/94, made a wider point.

“Our coaches have managed to create a European mentality in our teams; beating Barcelona, Tottenham and Benfica,” he said.

Italy’s success extends beyond the Champions League, with Roma and Juventus still in contention for Europa League semi-final spots and Fiorentina heading for the last four in the Conference League.

But Milan and Inter’s success in Europe comes in the backdrop of dreadful domestic campaigns.

The Rossoneri’s title defence has been a shambles. They sit 22 points behind leaders Napoli in fourth place and are now at risk of failing to qualify for the Champions League.

Inzaghi under fire

The same goes for Inter, who finished two points off top in Simone Inzaghi’s debut season last term and started 2022/23 as title favourites.

Instead, they are fifth with 11 defeats in 30 games to their name, and Inzaghi has found himself under so much pressure that he was even having to respond to critics after leading his side victory over Benfica.

“The critics aren’t a problem, I know who speaks well and who doesn’t, at times that criticism is suggested to them,” Inzaghi said.

Sky Italia pundit Paolo Condo said he thought Inzaghi’s time at Inter is “destined to come to an end at the end of the season”, but pointed out that the criticism of Inzaghi compared to Milan boss Stefano Pioli – with just two points between them in the table – isn’t fair.

“The results of Inzaghi and Pioli aren’t very different but there is no comparison when it comes to the treatment received by the media. A lot is down to last year’s Scudetto,” he said.

Inzaghi has by now earned a reputation as a good cup coach who struggles to find consistency over the course of a league season.

In less than two years at Inter, he has won the Coppa Italia and two Italian Super Cups, while last season he led the Nerazzurri to the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in a decade and now has them in their first semi-final since 2010. But a top-four finish is a must.

The fighting talk has already started, with Inter president Steven Zhang saying: “It will be revenge for what has happened in the past and for last season. We’re ready.”

It’s safe to say that the semi-final pressure goes beyond the rivalry. This tie will make or break both clubs’ seasons.