The Great Milan Derby, better known as ‘Derby Della Madonnina’ at the second leg of the 2021-22 Coppa Italia semifinal round is on the cards. As the Serie A table-toppers AC Milan lock the horns with their arch-rivals Inter Milan to enter into the finals of Italy’s premier cup competition at the historic venue of San Siro on Wednesday.
The pole position crown of Serie A standings is currently held by the Rossoneri side who are also marching for the cup glory. They are chased by their neighbors and biggest rivals in the league and cup competition as well.
The Devils thrashed another Italian giant Lazio by 4-0 to qualify for the semifinal round for the fourth time in the last five seasons. While the Nerazzurri side made their way to the penultimate stage by knocking Empoli and AS Roma in the earlier knockout rounds.
Current Form
Inter’s form has been too good recently as the Blue forces haven’t lost a single game in their last nine fixtures across all competitions. The unbeaten run also consists of some iconic victories including a 1-0 outcome at Juventus’ hub and an away triumph over Liverpool at the Anfield. They handed a 3-1 defeat to Spezia in their previous Serie A fixture and will have a one-point lead over AC Milan if they register another victory in the upcoming matchday.
On the other hand, Rossoneri has started losing their grip on the Scudetto after two consecutive goalless draws with Bologna and Torino. Although the Red and Blacks finally regained the winning touch by defeating the 19th-placed Genoa right before the judgemental clash of Coppa Italia.
Head to Head Record
Derby Della Madonnina is considered the oldest and the most prestigious rivalry in the history of Italian football. In the 113 years of this rivalry between two Italian giants, there has been a total of 230 combats around the major club competitions. Inter Milan is leading the head to head record with 84 wins while their city counterparts are also standing with 77 victories and 69 fixtures remained resultless.
The first leg of the semifinal concluded on a 0-0 goalless saga at the same venue as both teams failed to break the deadlock of aggregate. Their recent face-off showed that both combatants stand on the same page with solid defensive units at the rescue.
Team News
Hakan Calhanoglu’s celebration after the penalty goal infuriated the Rossoneri fans
The star Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu spent four seasons at the arch-rivals before joining the Nerazzurri forces in 2021 and will be the player to watch out for. The Italian gaffer Simone Inzaghi may call back Stefan de Vrij in the starting eleven replacing Danilo D’Ambrosio who has been overshadowed by the young stalwart Alessandro Bastoni in the back-three of the blue outfit.
AC Milan manager Stefano Pioli took a surprising decision to go back to the traditional 4-3-3 instead of his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation against Genoa. The 56-year-old has also served as a head coach of the Internazionale side for the 2016-17 season and holds in-depth knowledge of the club’s core players who developed drastically under his watch.
Predicted Starting XIs
Inter Milan (3-5-2): Samir Handanovic; Stefan de Vrij, Milan Skriniar, Alessandro Bastoni; Denzel Dumfries, Nicolo Barella, Marcelo Brozovic, Hakan Calhanoglu, Ivan Perisic; Edin Dzeko, Lautaro Martinez
AC Milan (4-2-3-1): Mike Maignan; Davide Calabria, Fikayo Tomori, Pierre Kalulu, Theo Hernandez; Franck Kessie, Sandro Tonali; Alexis Saelemaekers, Brahim Diaz, Rafael Leão; Oliver Giroud
Prediction
The current form suggests that the Nerazzurri side will have a slight advantage over the opponents who are yet to get back on the steady run since the international break. Due to the neck-to-neck competition between these two, the result is likely to come either at the extra time or through the penalty shootout.
