Super cup, today great football in Beijing for the first trophy and the first derby between Milan and Inter

The first Chinese derby between Milan, the Italian champions, and Inter, holders of the Italian Cup, is broadcast in the Bird's Nest in Beijing, six hours from the San Siro and the Modonnina. Up for grabs is the Italian Super Cup which has already seen the two Milanese teams triumph ten times, with five victories each. No other national club has done better. Already the 2010 edition won by Inter against Roma should have been played in Beijing, based on the agreements between our League and the Chinese authorities, but the proximity of dates with the European Super Cup between the Nerazzurri and the colchoneros of Atletico Madrid, he had advised everyone to move the meeting to the Meazza. At the time, the Gazzetta celebrated Inter's victory with an effective headline: "Interminable". After the historic treble, Moratti's team achieved their fourth success of a memorable season. But within a week, the last of August, first the defeat in Monaco against Atletico Madrid, then the arrival like a bolt from the blue of Ibrahimovic (and Robinho) to Milan, made it clear that the air it was changing. And so after years in which they had always been the team to beat, Inter saw themselves snatched this role from Max Allegri's Milan, who takes the field today in Beijing under the odds. The cabala is also playing against Inter given that in the stadium, which saw Usain Bolt's Olympic gold medals, the Nerazzurri have already lost the 2 Super Cup 1-2009 against Lazio. It was Mourinho's Inter who would go on to win this season All. Mou has been gone for just over a year, fifteen months in which Inter was able to rely on three coaches: the first, Benitez, immediately crushed by the environment that did not tolerate him; the second, Leonardo, attracted by the Parisian money of Sheikh Al Thani; the third Gasperini is here to try out his 3-4-3 formation applied to Genoa, in which Sneijder suddenly seems to become a burden if he doesn't adapt to being a classic midfielder. And for the Dutchman, the match against Milan could be his last match for the Nerazzurri. Manchester United has been chasing him for some time, City are also looking for him. In football that is now worth millions as if they were peanuts, the sale of Wesley could bring between 30 and 35 million euros into Inter's coffers. It doesn't matter that 10 billion old lire dance among the figures. Money that would then be used to buy Tevez. Inter is an open building site with somewhat confused ideas. Nobody is non-transferable. Not even Eto'o. Fans horrified at the prospect. It is true that the transfer of Ibra to Barcelona turned out to be an ingenious operation, bringing in exchange Eto'o himself and a very rich capital gain. But 12 months later the Nerazzurri fans saw Ibra arrive at Milan and now they fear the same thing will happen with the former Balotelli. With these moods in chiaroscuro and a few too many controversies, without Maicon, Lucio and the Argentinians in the America's Cup with the exception of Zanetti, Inter face a Milan that will field the best formation, strong in the Brazilians Pato, Robinho and Thiago Silva – who for once will go on holiday on August XNUMXth like the workers of Fiat – but above all of an Ibrahimovic who, with a new hair look, already seems close to top form. He, who has always won the Scudetto in every team he has gone to, and Eto'o, winner of three Champion's Leagues, are the great attraction for an audience, the Chinese one, which will sell out without too much quibbling on the technical and competitive value of a match played at the beginning of August, in the heat of Beijing, after less than a month of preparation. And with a transfer campaign that practically hasn't taken off yet, least of all for Inter, but also at Milan where, waiting for Mister X, he mounts Cassano's catchphrase. But a derby is always a derby. And Inter and Milan are the best that Italian football can offer today, a suffering football, due to the absence of sheikhs and the age-old disputes over rented stadiums, obsolete too, reduced according to Adriano Galliani from a luxury restaurant to a "pizzeria" for the crisis affecting it, mirror of a country without growth in the midst of an unprecedented financial storm since the euro. The sudden elimination of Palermo in the Europa League by the semi-amateurs of Thun is emblematic and shameful. But reading the annals of the away Italian Super Cup tells us that the whole world is rapidly changing for the worse, not just Italy. In 2002 it was played in Tripoli. Juventus won over Parma.