AC Milan will face their city rivals Inter twice in the early part of 2023 and a report has highlighted why Stefano Pioli’s men currently have the edge.
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The first derby will be played on Wednesday 18 January in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, with the Italian Super Cup up for grabs, and then the return derby in the league will take place on Sunday 5 February at San Siro.
Calciomercato.com have published a report highlighting why the Rossoneri are currently the top dogs in the city. It starts with stealing the Scudetto from Inter last season and continues with the fact Milan won the first derby of the season in Serie A by a scoreline of, with that victory being the game that has Pioli’s side three points above Simone Inzaghi’s men.
Both teams can be happy to have qualified for the round of 16 in the Champions League, finishing second in the groups behind Chelsea and Bayern Munich. In the knockout round Milan will face Antonio Conte’s Tottenham, while Inter will face Sergio Conceicao’s Porto.
Milan have the edge at the World Cup too as Joaquin Correa’s injury means Inter provided one international less than Milan for the World Cup in Qatar. Inter sent six (Brozovic, De Vrij, Dumfries, Lautaro, Lukaku and Onana) while Milan sent seven (Ballo-Touré, De Ketelaere, Dest, Giroud, Theo Hernandez, Kjaer and Leao).
Moreover, Inter’s wage bill is €130m gross per year, against the almost €80m gross per year of Milan, while the Rossoneri have overtaken the Nerazzurri in the ranking of squad values (via Transfermarkt). In early November, Inter’s was worth a total of €592.95m and it is now at €556.45m (-6.2%), while those of Milan went from €550.55m to €569.05m (+3.4%).
Inter are the second oldest team in Serie A with an average age of 28.2 years, while Milan are the sixth-youngest team in the league with an average age of 25.4 years.
