Since 2011, AC Milan have managed to beat Inter on merely one occasion. This victory was recorded on the 4th of May 2014, when Nigel De Jong scored the only goal of the game at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. Clarence Seedorf was still in charge of the club, masterminding a revival.
This also happens to be the last official game the two teams have played against each other. Although Champions League qualification seemed out of reach for both clubs, Inter were positioned more respectably in fifth while AC Milan were climbing out of the mid-table mess they had found themselves in.
The situation has changed since, albeit only slightly. The two teams are currently separated by a point with eighth-place Udinese sandwiched in between them. Both teams have new managers with renewed ambitions. Filippo Inzaghi is attempting to stabilize the sinking ship and establish a new direction for AC Milan. His counterpart, the newly appointed Roberto Mancini, is endowed with the purpose of reinstating Inter to the apex of Italian football.
These football clubs presently represent the depleted state of Italian football. Crunched budgets and outdated thinking at the helm of affairs has instilled a staleness within the organisations, which has seeped into the game at a footballing level. Both clubs are seeking an identity and there exists a race, even if symbolically, to reinvent the wheel and re-establish an image that has experienced gradual erosion.
With AC Milan, the destination is important, but so is the route.
Inzaghi’s first big test of the season came against Juventus in September of this year. The former AC Milan forward approached the match timidly and took pride in losing by a single goal margin.
“We have to improve because I know where we started from; I thought that we were further behind Juventus but instead we are a lot nearer to them than I imagined,” Inzaghi said after the game.
If anything, this reflects the poor opinion that Inzaghi has about the team at his disposal. It would be folly to attribute greatness to this side, but this team is significantly better compared to the squads made available to Massimiliano Allegri (in his last year) and Clarence Seedorf.
Inzaghi has demonstrated tactical naivety in recent games. His team selection can be frustrating as he continues to pick Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien ahead of the vastly talented Marco van Ginkel. The situation isn’t made any better with reports confirming that he might be experimenting with Adil Rami at right-back in the derby. But, what is frustrating beyond all of this, is his inferiority relative to the quality of its current playing staff. He further imposes this complex upon the team when he sends his men out to play against a superior side. An interesting sub-plot in the derby would be the approach and attitude the AC Milan’s coach adopts when his side takes on Inter.
Although the derby is the world’s window for judging AC Milan’s footballing capabilities at an aesthetic level, the pressing concern isn’t if the players dressed in red and black can dazzle with mesmerising football. It is instead about whether they can start a new cycle of victories by defeating their bitter rivals in their biggest game of the league calendar.
AC Milan have not won a match in their last four games, with their previous victory coming against Hellas Verona on October 19th. Winning the derby, apart from the drama and the bragging rights that come with it, brings the relief of securing three precious points, which when put into context of the race for Champions League places, implies a ‘six pointer’.
Inter are indeed one of the many challengers for that elusive third spot on the table, and a victory for AC Milan surely adds a cushion between the two sides. The sporting practicality aside, the victory also adds an element of psychological advantage for AC Milan.
Roberto Mancini has taken up the reigns at Inter and the derby is his first game back in charge. A win for AC Milan would surely deflate the confidence the club might have found with the arrival of Mancini.
Follow Rajath Kumar on Twitter: @rajathkumar. You can read his work on his AC Milan blog “Milan and Me; The Love Affair” — http://rajaththemilanista.wordpress.com/
