Sant'Ambrogio dresses in blue and white. On the day of the Patron Saint of Milan, the championship gives us Juventus-Inter, the big match par excellence on the national football scene. In fact, no one else can boast the title of "Derby d'Italia", coined by Gianni Brera back in 1967 and now in edition number 234 of its history, the 198th in Serie A.
But to make the match between black and white so special, in addition to the romantic definitions, there is the bitter rivalry that has always distinguished it, regardless of the standings and stakes: the two enemies par excellence of our football, in fact, would not losing it even if it were a friendly match and this, moreover, is not at all.
Both need to win, albeit for different reasons: Juve to give their championship another break, Inter to try to shorten the gap a bit and better prepare for Tuesday's match against PSV, decisive for qualifying in the Champions League.
“We play a lot but we have to walk step by step correctly – confirmed Spalletti – There is an important gap in the standings, that's clear, the bad news is that it's difficult to get them. The beautiful one however is that the first step to be able to shorten depends on us, so in the meantime let's do it and then we'll see. We always show up to win against every team."
Important words, in perfect harmony with those released during the week by the players (Icardi above all), testifying that Inter believe they can do the job. In fact, it would be about this, numbers in hand: Juve, so far, has made an almost clear path and that "almost" refers to the draw with Genoa, the only small hitch in the sensational series of victories.
The risk, when you are 8 points ahead of the second and 11 over the third (Inter), is to lower your attention span in a dangerous way but the black and whites, for 7 long years now, have been proving to be superior even to this and the current season is going even better than expected.
“The numbers say that Juve are killing the championship but that's not the case – Allegri glossed over – The path to winning the Scudetto is still long, there will be a battle until the end but we have to go on our way. I would also add that between this match and Wednesday's match the other is more important: here we'll play a game, there the primacy of the group”.
With all due respect to Young Boys, however, it is evident that this is the most delicate match, both for technical and environmental reasons: in fact, the Juventus people, beyond the advantages in the standings, want to beat their eternal rival.
It goes without saying that the same applies to Inter too, that's why tonight, beyond the injuries (Khedira, Barzagli and Alex Sandro, as well as Bentancur in doubt, on one side, Nainggolan and Dalbert on the other) , we will see the best possible formations.
Allegri will line up a 4-4-2 with Szczesny in goal, Cancelo, Bonucci, Chiellini and De Sciglio in defense, Cuadrado, Pjanic, Matuidi and Douglas Costa in midfield, Mandzukic and Cristiano Ronaldo in attack.
Classic 4-2-3-1 instead for Spalletti, who will respond with Handanovic in goal, D'Ambrosio, Skriniar, De Vrij and Asamoah in the back, Vecino and Brozovic in the midfield, Politano, Joao Mario and Perisic in the trocar behind of the lone Icardi striker.
The referee of the match will be Irrati, with his colleague Guida in the control room of the Var: a necessary clarification by virtue of what happened last weekend and, more generally, in many of the previous Derby d'Italia, but that everyone (including those directly concerned) they hope that only an irrelevant detail will remain.
