There are few derbies in world football that can offer such an evocative cocktail of passion, style, aggression and class on the pitch than the Derby della Madonnina. The city of Milan itself prides itself on its power, its glamour and its ego and the two football teams are no different. San Siro is the amphitheatre that has been the setting for some historic games, and we’ve nailed down five of the best.
Inter 6-5 Milan 1949/50
How much this game meant in 1949 cannot be understated. Europe was still feeling the effects of war and in Italy, football and economic growth would be linked for decades. Much was expected of this Inter team, they would finish third that campaign behind Juventus and Milan but before this cold November day when the derby was scheduled, they had high hopes.
Milan also were confident of having a sublime season. After all, they had their front three of Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Leidholm at the peak of their powers. This Swedish triumvirate would become legendary and would be forever a key part of what makes up the DNA of Milan. They expected a title challenge but the start to their season hadn’t gone as planned. They had lost to Juventus and drawn at Como and Lazio before this derby and now it was time to show what they could do.
The two teams had drawn 4-4 that year (but the season before) but few would have thought that this would happen again despite goals being more bountiful in Serie A in those days. Inter had put seven goals past Venezia the month before, for example. What happened next was extraordinary and to say this game started quickly is an understatement. When Leidholm scored in the 19th minute it was to put Milan 1-4 up. If you were 20 minutes late to the ground, you’d already missed five goals. Inter’s Amadeo Amadei then scored twice and the famous Istvan Nyers once to bring Inter back into the game, before Milan went 4-5 up. Surely it was game over. Beyond belief, the Nerazzurri’s Benito Lorenzi levelled before Amadeo scored his third and sealed the win. The game ended a frankly ridiculous 6-5 and is still the record for the most goals scored in the Derby Della Madonnina.
Both sides would finish behind Juventus, who became the first champions in a post-Superga world, the event in which 18 of the legendary Il Grande Torino squad of the 1940s lost their lives in a plane crash on the hills of Turin.
Milan 2-1 Inter 1984/85
Mark ‘Attila’ Hateley may not be a man who many outside of Milan recognise as being a hero in this fixture but ask any Rossoneri fan in the city and there isn’t one of them who wouldn’t buy him a drink. The derby was an atmosphere that suited him, and he had already been sent off earlier in the season, an aggressive act that endeared him to the ultras. Now he would get to take on the arch enemy in the biggest game of them all.
One has to remember that at this time, Silvio Berlusconi’s helicopter had yet to descend on Milanello and Wagner’s ‘Ryde of the Valkyries’ was still in the cassette case. The Rossoneri had been dragged through the mud, with betting scandals and relegation their recent history. Perhaps it was this that made the derby even more important as they wanted to show that Milan were back.
Nils Liedholm – now manager of the club – had assembled a team that would go on to form the basis of the all-conquering Milan squad of the late 1980’s and early 90’s. The two foreign players were English and Ray Wilkins had been joined by Hateley that year. The Rossoneri started in adequate fashion winning two and drawing four of their opening six going into the derby. Inter struck first through Alessandro Altobelli within the first 10 minutes. Milan then equalised through Agostino Di Bartolomei
In the 64th minute Milan’s Pietro Paolo Virdis launched the ball into the Inter box. Hateley knew that Fulvio Collovati had shown him his number and that he would win the header, even so the leap was like that of a basketball player. He crashed the ball past Walter Zenga and sealed a 2-1 win to Milan. The game and moment are so well remembered (because of Milan’s troubles at the time) that Mark became a cult hero and in 2016 San Siro’s Curva Sud (reserved for Milan’s hardcore section) unleashed a banner with the image of this goal, it was accompanied by a banner that read “sovrastiamoli” (“we tower above them”).
Hateley’s Milan career started brightly but petered out. When Berlusconi did eventually arrive in the helicopter, he was replaced by a talented young striker called Marco Van Basten in the summer of 1987, who never amounted to much.
But Hateley will always have that winner in the derby.
Inter 0-6 Milan 2000/01
This was a messy season for both Milan sides. Berlusconi was absent chasing political dreams and Cesare Maldini was put in temporary charge of Milan after Alberto Zaccheroni was dismissed. Inter were no better, as Marco Tardelli was trying to lift Inter after Marcelo Lippi had been dismissed when the Nerazzurri’s star-studded side exited the Champions League preliminary round to Helsingborg.
Milan’s Curva Sud must have had a premonition in the build up to that game as they unveiled a banner that showed the red Diavolo strangling a blue snake. Inter would certainly slither away after this game. It was a shambles from start to finish, with Milan scoring seemingly at will and the everlasting image will always be of the camera turning to Marco Tardelli after the sixth goal where he turned and said ‘Mamma Mia’.
This game would also bring the Rossoneri another cult hero, although Gianni Comandini, who scored twice within the opening 20 minutes, disappeared into the ether after this quicker than ‘Toto’ Schillaci did for Italy post-Italia ‘90. Commandini only scored three goals for Milan in his whole career before sold to Atalanta that summer, but it’s fair to say that he’ll always be associated with the derby.
Andriy Shevchenko, regular purger of Inter in his time in red-and-black, also scored twice, with Serginho and Federico Guinti rounded out the demolition.
For Inter it was an irremovable stain that will never go away. It decimated goalkeeper Sebastien Frey’s Inter career as he became the symbol of ridicule. It was perhaps the low-point of Massimo Moratti’s 19-year presidency.
Inter 0-3 Milan 2004/2005
The most infamous Derby della Madonnina in recent history. Here, the two sides met in the quarter finals of the Champions League and this elevated the passion, aggression and meaning of what is always a titanic clash to another level. To make the atmosphere even more toxic, the Rossoneri already had a 2-0 lead from the first leg after Jaap Stam and Andrey Shevchenko had scored. It would be the Ukrainian who would score first in the return, with a glorious left-footed curler from outside the box, and it looked like the game was almost over but then all hell broke loose.
Esteban Cambiasso had an equaliser ruled out for offside and this led to so much crowd trouble that German referee Markus Merk suspended the game after Inter fans hurled flares and objects onto the field in protest. Famously a flare hit Brazilian goalkeeper Dida in the ear and that was the final straw.
The ugly scenes inside San Siro played out across the world and was yet another bad image for the Italian game. Yet that ugliness produced one of the game’s most iconic images: that of Inter’s beanpole defender Marco Materazzi leaning on Milan’s elegant No.10 Rui Costa, socks half pulled up, shirt untucked and arms folded, watching on together as the flares rained down high from the heavens.
Milan were handed an automatic 3-0 win by UEFA, and Inter were forced to play their next six European games behind closed doors.
Milan 0-4 Inter 2009/10
This was Inter’s treble season and the Derby Della Madonnina came early, it was the second game of the campaign and it put Jose Mourinho up against Leonardo. The Nerazzurri had started the season with a whimper.
Inter had lacked creativity against the Bari on the opening day and it was something the Inter board addressed as they brought in Wesley Sneijder from Real Madrid before the close of the window. He didn’t even have time to train with his new team and yet he was thrust into the action straight away and enjoyed the most perfect of debuts.
After an hour the game was level but then Inter came to life and goals from Thiago Motta and Diego Milito were followed (after a red card for Rino Gattuso) by finishes from Maicon and Dejan Stankovic. In a season where Inter won everything there were some very important milestones and this was certainly the first.
Sneijder had been outstanding. The Dutchman was the missing link in Mourinho’s side and Inter didn’t look back. They won nine and lost one out of the next ten games and by the end of the campaign they had made history as the first Italian side to win the treble.
Sneijder also produced the best season of his career and arguably should’ve won the Ballon d’Or in 2010, but that’s a story for another time.