Dhe Italians are noticing these days how nice it can be when football is successful and not only the fans in their own country are watching, but the whole continent. The Derby della Madonnina, the Milan city duel between AC and Inter, is played at least twice every season, but in recent years has hardly attracted international attention beyond the borders of the boot like duels between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona or Manchester City and Liverpool FC or even Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. On Wednesday evening, however, everything was different.
Not only the 75,000 Tifosi in the soccer temple San Siro, including international greats like tennis star Novak Đoković, looked closely. Interested viewers worldwide wanted to know what is behind the Italian Renaissance. Because not only the two Milan clubs are in the semi-finals of the Champions League. One level lower, Juventus Turin is fighting against Sevilla and AS Roma against Leverkusen this Thursday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Europa League, on RTL and RTL +) for a place in the final, in the Europa Conference League it is AC Florence against Basel.
Five teams, five hopes – England, Spain, France, Germany and certainly every other nation are a long way from that at this late stage of the European Cup season. In addition, there is the fairytale material in the national league that SSC Napoli provided. 33 years after the last championship, then with Diego Maradona, the club provided an unexpected winner in the fight for the championship title. The fact that the national team in Qatar was not allowed to take part in the World Cup for the second time in a row almost feels like an old fairy tale from the Arabian Nights.
“We have to go all in”
While the Azzurri couldn’t shine in the east, one team in particular shone in the west on Tuesday: Football Club Internazionale Milano defeated Associazione Calcio Milan 2-0 in the first leg of the semifinals in the Champions League. Edin Džeko (8th minute) and Henrich Mchitarjan (11th) scored early for the Nerazzurri, the black-blue, against the Rossoneri, the red-black. In the second leg next Tuesday (9 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Champions League and on Prime Video) there is a good chance of making it into the final on June 10 in Istanbul.
Džeko? Mkhitaryan? The two names of Inter’s goal scorers make German football historians sit up and take notice. Times were different in the Bundesliga too. Times when the long-term champions FC Bayern weren’t already celebrating the title in the spring and even Borussia Dortmund wasn’t the number one adversary for Munich. It was a time when Džeko shot VfL Wolfsburg to the top of the table. That was in 2009. And when German pride in the Champions League final between FCB and BVB knew no bounds, Mchitarjan also came to Germany in 2013.
