GdS: 'A record-breaking derby' - Inter vs. Milan a battle of speed, size and trophies

Inter and AC Milan will contest the first derby of the season on Saturday 16 September, and there are a number of areas worth focusing on.

This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) breaks the derby down into five different categories which provide interesting narratives heading into the game next week.

Speed: An all-French affair between Theo Hernandez and Marcus Thuram. The Rossoneri full-back wins, having reached a maximum speed of 35.24km per hour in these first three rounds of Serie A, compared to Thuram’s 34.16.

The latter is the fastest on his team, ahead of Dumfries (33.68km/h) and Mkhitaryan (33.53km/h), but still ends up behind the other great sprinter of the derby as Rafael Leao has hit 34.88km/h.

Behind him, on the podium of the fastest players in Pioli’s squad, is Calabria at 33.52km/h. Dimarco, on the other hand, pushes at 32.27km/h.

For now, Samuel Chukwueze is missing from the list of sprinters. The Nigerian was among the fastest in La Liga – he reached 34.58km/h, like Real’s Vinicius – but in the Rossoneri he is at 32.76 because he has been coming off the bench. Christian Pulisic meanwhile hit 33.33km/h.

History: The lord of derbies is Lautaro Martinez: he has won 9 out of 14, often deciding them. He scored in the 3-0 Supercoppa win last season, scored the winner in the 1-0 return game in the league and in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals.

He scored against Milan in the first of 14 matches played against them on 17 March 2019 (3-2 for Inter). His record is completed with two draws and three defeats, but the Nerazzurri fans know that when Lautaro scores, the derby will end with a victory given it has always gone like this.

Davide Calabria, the Rossoneri captain and veteran of the derbies, is the Milan player who has beaten Inter the most times, but the comparison with the Nerazzurri captain doesn’t hold up as he has just four wins, to which must be added the same number of draws and eight defeats.

Calhanoglu is the player who has played the most derbies of all (17) but has still won fewer than Lautaro. Nonetheless, his successes with the Nerazzurri beat those with the Rossoneri, five to two.

Size: Inzaghi’s Inter is a team that makes physicality a lethal weapon to overwhelm its opponents, and they said goodbye to Dzeko and Lukaku but welcomed Thuram, who at 192cm and 90kg will fill the area.

Arnautovic, who could be first off the bench, is the same height as the Frenchman, weighing a few kilos less (83). Olivier Giroud, at 193cm and 91kg on the scales, surpasses Thuram by one kilo and one centimetre. The muscular derby basically ends in a draw.

At an individual and team level, the summer mercato recalibrated the weight of Pioli’s squad, correcting a structural flaw that Milan had suffered in the matches against Inter last season.

This summer’s reinforcements they added mass between midfield and attack, from Loftus-Cheek (191cm and 88kg) to Okafor (185cm and 85kg).

Finally, pay attention to the battle on the flank: the challenge between Dumfries (1.88m tall, 80kg weight) and Theo (1.84m and 81kg) is also about muscles.

Running: Tijjani Reijnders never stops. Last season, when he played in the Eredivisie with AZ Alkmaar, he did not miss a match playing in 54 out of 54 games across all competitions.

Reijnders played every match as a starter and he was only taken off six times: among the midfielders who 2022-23 they had taken part in all the available matches in the 10 main European leagues, he was the player who had played the most, at an average of 89.65 minutes per game.

At Milan Tijjani confirms himself as an endurance specialist because he has always on the pitch from the first to the last minute against Bologna, Torino and Roma, with an average of 12.515km per game covered. Only Haas of Empoli and Ramadani of Lecce run more than him in Serie A.

If the Dutchman from Milan is the derby marathon runner, Inter’s answer is Hakan Calhanoglu at 11.944km average distance covered (11th among Serie A players).

The Turk is the director of the Nerazzurri’s 3-5-2 who is not picky when it comes to covering kilometres and it is no coincidence that he is among Inzaghi’s untouchables.

Mkhitaryan and Krunic, the other Duracells in the derby who operate in the middle of the park, are at similar distances of 11.8km per game covered.

Trophies: The next derby will feature over 170 trophies, i.e. those won individually by Inter and Milan players during their careers with the clubs.

Who boasts the most? Henrikh Mkhitaryan wins by a landslide: 22 trophies spread practically everywhere he has played. His list ranges from four Armenian championships with Pyunik to three Ukrainian titles with Shakhtar, from the Europa League won with Manchester United to the Conference League with Roma.

With the Nerazzurri, Mkhitaryan added the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa and came close to winning the Champions League, but the Scudetto is missing.

Giroud has 11 titles including the Champions League with Chelsea (raised to the sky together with the other Rossoneri player Pulisic), while he won the Scudetto at the first attempt with Milan, and won a World Cup with his national team as Lautaro did.

However, the the most successful player at Milanello is… his deputy. Luka Jovic has 12 cups shining in his cupboard, including the Champions League and LaLiga with Real Madrid, and the league titles and Portuguese Cups with Benfica.

In Madrid and Lisbon the Serbian was rarely seen, but he managed to win anyway.

📰 Today’s @Gazzetta_it…

🥇 “A record-breaking derby.”

⚡️ “The fastest: Theo sprints at 35km/h, Thuram at 34.1.”

🏃 “The most resistant: Reijnders super, 12.5km per game. Cala chases him.”

💪 “The biggest: Thuram aries – 192cm, 90kg. Giroud surpasses him.”

🏆 “The most… pic.twitter.com/jznHmtKxHA

— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) September 5, 2023