There is no other match in the world like the Derby della
Madonnina. Sure, there are other derbies, other matches that are full of fire
and hate and passion. But only one Derby della Madonnina. Part of the reason is
the disparity in the level of class: Inter got their paltry trophies by cheating and
stealing, Milan got their plethora of trophies the good old fashioned way. Another is the
difference in fans: Inter’s fans always cry and whine and their coreo is boring
and terrible, while Milan fans are clever and vociferous with the most amazing
coreo in the world. And while on the pitch, both teams have struggled this
season, one is still crashing and burning, while Milan is showing signs of
doing the opposite. So adding it all up, it sucks to be blue. But then again,
Milan fans have always known that.
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| She knows that it sucks to be blue. |
Another disparity is the amount of cash poured into the
clubs this season. While Milan invested barely anything and hired a coach who
was willing to work for next to nothing, Inter splashed some cash on some good
players this past year and brought Mancini back with a king’s ransom of a
salary after Eric Thohir bought the club from that lecherous snake Moratti
(also known as one of the masterminds behind Calciopoli.)
And yet after all that cash, they are one point behind what has been a
painfully poor Milan. Oh yeah, it sucks to be blue.
But don’t think for a second that Milan are favorites. After
a record in the league of D-D-D-L, Inter finally won convincingly last week away
to Verona, their first win since February. And while they crashed out of the
Europa League to Wolfsburg in spectacular fashion, Milan technically crashed
out of Europe last year. But going back to their win in Verona, Mancini lined
up Handanovic; Juan, Vidic, Ranocchia, D’Ambrosio; Palacio, Guarin, Medel,
Brozovic, Hernanes, and Icardi. But the good news out of that win was that
Guarin and Brozovic got themselves suspended and will miss tomorrow’s match.
Also missing for Mancini will be Moreira, Dodo, Campagnaro, and possiblyKuzmanovic, all due to injury. Sucks to be blue.
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| When De Jong is celebrating, it definitely sucks to be blue. |
Meanwhile, Milan said goodbye to Armero, who went to
Flamengo on loan. And we will still be missing Agazzi, Mastour, Montolivo, and
El Shaarawy, the latter of which just returned to training this week after
another long injury. Essien is also doubtful to be available, with Destro
returning to training after the knock he picked up last Sunday vs. Sampdoria and Honda also likely to be declared fit.
After winning this fixture last year, Milan drew with i biscioni in November with an equalizer
scored by this guy. And
despite a current form of D-L-W-W-D, this game is wide open. We all know that
the Derby could go to anyone, even more so this year with both teams having
such poor seasons. But still, it sucks to be blue.
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| Trolling the Nerazzuri since 2007. Yeah, it sucks to be blue. |
So break
out the smacktalk, finish
your preparations, and then sit down, fasten your seatbelts, and get
ready for an epic battle. A battle of evil vs. good, wrong vs. right, Nerazzurri
vs. Rossoneri. We can only hope for a win, but also for a great game. And
hopefully, at full time, we’ll still be able to say convincingly “It sucks to
be blue.”
This post inspired by the music of
the Cure’s “The Snakepit”
il Derby della Madonnina
Inter vs. AC Milan
Sunday, April 19 • 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)
This match will be shown in RAI and BeIN Sports in the U.S.