AC Milan and Inter will contest the second Derby della Madonnina of the season tonight at San Siro, and to say there is a lot riding on the game would be an understatement.
For Milan the mission is as daunting as it is simple: they must avoid defeat against Inter – something they have not done in their last five games against them – in order to ensure that they do not clinch the Scudetto in the most meaningful fixture of all.
Our pre-match preview has all the latest team news and some insight on the opposition, while below are the best stats.
➤ Inter have won the last five derbies against Milan in all competitions, already a record run for the Nerazzurri against the Rossoneri. Only twice in the history of the Milan derby have one of the two teams achieved six wins in a row: Milan between 1946 and 1948 and between 1911 and 1913.
➤ Milan have won only one of the last eight derbies against Inter played as hosts in all competitions (D3 L4): in the most recent league match (3-2 on 3 September 2022) – the last time the Rossoneri recorded two home wins in a row against the Nerazzurri in Serie A was back in 2008.
➤ If Inter win this match, it will be the first time in Serie A history the Scudetto has been won at the end of a match between Milan and Inter. With five games still to play, it would be the joint-earliest a team has won the Serie A title (also Napoli 2022-23, Juventus 2018-19, Inter 2006-07, Fiorentina 1955-56 and Torino 1947-48).
➤ Stefano Pioli is the coach who has lost the most matches in the history of the Milan derby in all competitions: nine defeats, all in charge of Milan. Since he has coached the Rossoneri, Milan have won only three of the 14 matches overall against Inter (D2 L9), scoring 12 goals and conceding 29.
➤ Milan remained unbeaten in 16 of their last 17 league games (W12 D4), scoring 37 goals (2.2 on average); the only defeat in the period came against Monza on February 18th.
➤ Inter have remained unbeaten in their last 26 league matches (W21 D5), only three times in their Serie A history have they recorded more matches in a row without defeat: 31 between April 2007 and February 2008, 33 between May 2006 and April 2007 and 27 between May 2004 and February 2005.
➤ Inter have scored in their last 40 league matches, setting their Serie A record. Only Juventus (twice) have recorded a longer streak of consecutive goalscoring matches in the history of the competition: 44 matches between October 2016 and December 2017 and 43 between February 2013 and March 2014.
➤ Inter (77) and Milan (63) are the two teams that have scored the most goals in Serie A this season, but the Rossoneri (37) have conceded 20 goals more than the Nerazzurri (17).
➤ In his four Serie A matches against Inter, Milan’s Olivier Giroud has scored three goals and provided two assists. The Nerazzurri are one of three teams, with Cagliari and Frosinone, against which the French striker has more involvements than appearances in the Italian top-flight.
➤ Lautaro Martínez (eight goals) is Inter’s third-best scorer in the history of the Milan Derby in all competitions, behind only Giuseppe Meazza (12) and Stefano Nyers (11). The Argentine could become the fifth player to reach double figures in goals in matches between Milan and Inter with a single shirt, after Andriy Shevchenko (14, Milan), Giuseppe Meazza (12, Inter), Gunnar Nordahl (11, Milan) and Stefano Nyers (11, Inter).
There’s another history to be made here. If we lose, we can expect a record number of comments on Sempre afterwards 😄🤭