Inter won again last night against Genoa to extend their lead at the top of the Serie A table to 15 points, and an alarming possibility is becoming more and more realistic.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) point out this morning, Milan will play Inter on April 21st – with six games to go – and thus the idea emerges that the Nerazzurri could celebrate their 20th league title win after that game.
If the gap to Milan remained the same and Juve dropped points in one more game, Pioli would go onto the pitch knowing his side have to win to avoid what the paper call a potential ‘nightmare derby’.
Otherwise, Inter would remain at +16 with five games to play and would celebrate in front of 60,000 Milan fans. It would be another kick in the teeth for Milan, after the terrible 2023 in which the Rossoneri lost all five derbies.
Milan lost the Supercoppa derby in Saudi Arabia (0-3), the Serie A away match (0-1), the two Champions League matches (0-2 and 0-1) and this season’s reverse game (1-5). It feels like a trauma with no sign of ending.
Yesterday, the 24 hours in which season ticket holders in the Second Green Tier – the one occupied by Inter’s Curva Nord – can purchase a ticket in another sector, with a dedicated price list. That phase will close today at noon.
From 5pm this evening, however, every Milan season ticket holder will be able to purchase an additional ticket at a dedicated price. Milan have 41,500 season ticket holders and generally 25-30% of card holders purchase another ticket. That’s another 10,000 tickets.
Considering that Inter’s Curva Nord will have around 7,500 tickets and that the first leg derby was seen by 75,500 people, there remain 26,500 tickets available between the hospitality area and normal seats.
Milan has taken precautions with a third phase dedicated to their fans: from Friday to Monday, sales will open for holders of the CRN Card (Cuore Rossonero), the AC Milan fan card. The obvious objective – and destined to be achieved – is to avoid the free sale, where the Nerazzurri fans could infiltrate.
There are a couple of obvious unknowns in this scenario. The first is linked to the attempts of the Inter fans, who will be there, to acquire tickets and participate in the party. If there is a risk of a mathematical Scudetto, many Nerazzurri will try to buy a ticket from their ‘cousins’.
If on the one hand it is true that season ticket holders can only give their ticket to a Cuore Rossonero holder, on the other hand there is no block on name changes for ‘normal’ tickets.
The second risk is public order. Inter fans, with the Scudetto in the air, would prepare for the party throughout the city, including the San Siro area. It would be a tense and very delicate situation.
Milan, on the other hand, would like to think only about the pitch. In the first game, Pioli made the same tactical choices as in the first three matches, which he won with a spectacular performance against Bologna, Torino and Roma.
Davide Calabria was often seen in a central position and Rade Krunic supported the front line. After five minutes it was 1-0 to Inter, in the 38th minute it was 2-0, and in the second half they scored three more times.
That match cannot fail to have remained in the minds of Mike Maignan, Olivier Giroud and Theo Hernandez, the leaders of Milan. The goal is to redeem the 5-1 in the return leg, winning in front of their fans like in September 2022.
They have everything to gain and nothing to lose, we have Pioli leading us to another disaster as we will experience another night of shame, and like always we will deal with it in denial.
Think of it as a farewell present from Pioli for all the F**** he didn’t give.
What makes more painful is they will use 2nd team and still celebrate the scudetto even if they lose. Milan will gain nothing there, expect more point that hardly effect UCL qualifications.
A must win by Inter? Nah we’ll draw or finally win
I admire your (delusional) optimism. 😀
Hahaha 🤣🤣🤣 there’s some hidden truth there and u know it. These are one of those “must win” backs to the wall job we need to do and we’re 10/10 in that regard 😅 or that’s what I keep telling myself
That is true. Backs against the wall is where this team can perform.