If Giampaolo Pazzini plays today he will celebrate his 300th career appearance as a professional. His 299 appearances to date - wearing the colours of Atalanta, Fiorentina, Sampdoria and Inter - are divided as follows: 212 in Serie A, 39 in Serie B, 27 in Coppa Italia and 21 in European competitions. Pazzini made his debut on 17 August 2003 in Venezia 2-0 Atalanta (Coppa Italia).

Should he play today, MacDonald Mariga will celebrate his 100th appearance with Italian clubs. His previous 99 appearances are divided as follows: 47 in Serie A, 35 in Serie B, 10 in Coppa Italia, 5 in European competitions, 1 in the Italian Super Cup and 1 in the Club World Cup. Mariga's first appearance in a competitive match for an Italian outfit came on 7 October 2007 in Parma 0-3 Roma (Serie A).

The AC Milan goal has been one of Dejan Stankovic's preferred targets since he began plying his trade in Italy: the Serbian midfielder has hit 6 of his 76 goals in competitive fixtures against the Rossoneri, the same number as he has scored against Parma.

The last time a competitive match between the two Milan sides finished all square was on 24 October 2004, when a goalless draw was played out at in a Serie A fixture at the Meazza (with AC Milan "at home"). In the 15 competitive fixtures played since then, there have been 8 wins for the Rossoneri and 7 for the Nerazzurri.

The two coaches have faced each other 5 times previously and there has yet to be a draw: 2 wins for Allegri and 3 for Gasperini. Eighteen goals were scored in those 5 games, averaging out at 3.6 per match.

This will be the seventh time Allegri has met Inter in competitive fixtures in his coaching career. The current Rossoneri coach has won 3, drawn 1 and lost 2 of his 6 previous meetings with Inter.

This is the 24th edition of the Italian Super Cup, the trophy that pits the previous season's Serie A champions against the Coppa Italia winners. On 17 occasions the Italian Super Cup has been won by the team that claimed the Scudetto, while there have been 6 victories for the cup winners: Fiorentina in 1996, Lazio in 1998, Parma in 1999, Inter in 2005, Roma in 2007 and Lazio in 2009. In each of the last three "odd" years, the Italian Super Cup has been raised by the Coppa Italia winners.

This is the fifth time that the Italian Super Cup has taken place on foreign soil. The first was in Washington (United States) on 21 August 1993, when AC Milan beat Torino 1-0. The next came almost a decade later, on 25 August 2002 in Tripoli (Libya), with Juventus edging a 2-1 victory over Parma. The Super Cup returned to the United States in 2003, on 3 August, with New York hosting the event this time: Juventus beat AC Milan 5-3 in a penalty shoot-out following the 0-0 scoreline after 90 minutes and 1-1 after extra time. The last time the Super Cup was held abroad prior to this year was in 2009, on 8 August: Inter 1-2 Lazio in Beijing (China). That was the only time the Coppa Italia winners have triumphed over the league champions in this competition outside Italy. Beijing thus becomes the first foreign city to host the competition for a second time. Before today, the teams that have competed in the Italian Super Cup abroad are Juventus and AC Milan (twice each), Inter, Lazio, Parma and Torino (once). With their appearance in this year's edition, AC Milan become the club to have featured in the competition most times abroad.

Nine teams have raised the Italian Super Cup at least once and Inter and AC Milan are the two most successful sides, with 5 wins apiece. Inter raised the trophy in 1989, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010; AC Milan in 1988 (the inaugural year of the trophy), 1992, 1993, 1994 and 2004. Whoever emerges victorious from the 2011 edition will therefore lay sole claim to the crown of being the most successful club in the history of this cup. There have been 4 wins for Juventus, 3 for Lazio, 2 for Roma, and 1 each for Fiorentina, Napoli, Parma and Sampdoria.

When they line up for today's match, Inter will extend their sequence of consecutive Italian Super Cup appearances to 7 (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011) – by the far the longest ever unbroken run of appearances in the competition. The previous record belonged to AC Milan, when they qualified for three years running in 1992, 1993 and 1994.

11 teams have taken part in the Italian Super Cup at least once. Today AC Milan and Inter will both make their ninth appearance in this fixture - a joint record. Inter were involved in 1989 (2-0 win over Sampdoria), 2000 (3-4 defeat at the Olimpico by Lazio), 2005 (1-0 win away to Juventus, after extra time), 2006 (4-3 victory over Roma in San Siro, also after extra time), 2007 (a 0-1 defeat at the Meazza by Roma), 2008 (6-5 penalty shoot-out win over Roma, 2-2 after 90 minutes and extra time), 2009 (a 1-2 defeat to Lazio in Beijing) and 2010 (a 3-1 win over Roma). AC Milan took part in 1988 (3-1 victory against Sampdoria), 1992 (2-1 win over Parma), 1993 (beating Torino 1-0 in Washington), 1994 (5-4 on penalties against Sampdoria, 1-1 after 90 minutes with no extra time), 1996 (1-2 defeat at the Meazza against Fiorentina), 1999 (another 1-2 defeat in San Siro, this time by Parma), 2003 (losing 4-6 in a penalty shoot-out against Juventus) and 2004 (3-0 win over Lazio). The 9 other teams to have featured in this competition are Juventus (with 7 appearances), Roma (6), Lazio, Parma and Sampdoria (4 each), Fiorentina (2), and Napoli, Torino and Vicenza (1 each).

AC Milan are competing in the Italian Super Cup for the first time in 7 years. They last featured in the competition on 21 August 2004, when they beat Lazio 3-0 in San Siro – their longest absence since the competition's inception.

If Inter were to triumph today, it would be the fourth time in the history of the Italian Super Cup that the same team has won the trophy twice in a row. That feat has also been achieved by AC Milan, with a record 3 consecutive successes, in 1992, 1993 and 1994, Juventus in 2002 and 2003 and Inter in 2005 and 2006. A win this year would therefore make Inter the first team to accomplish back-to-back victories in two different periods.

Dejan Stankovic holds the record for most appearances in the Italian Super Cup with 8 in total: 6 with Inter (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010) and 2 with Lazio (1998 and 2000). Trailing the Serbian in second place – with 6 appearances each – are Cambiasso, Costacurta, Del Piero, Maldini and Javier Zanetti (who, should he play today, will move into second place by himself). Dejan Stankovic has also won the Super Cup more than any other player, 6 times: 2 with Lazio, in 1998 and 2000, and 4 with Inter, in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010.

Three world-class players currently share the honour of being the Italian Super Cup's top scorers: Alessandro Del Piero, Samuel Eto’o and Andriy Shevchenko all have 3 strikes to their names. Del Piero's goals came in 1998 (1) and 2002 (2), Eto’o's in 2009 (1) and 2010 (2), while Shevchenko bagged a hat-trick in 2004, making him the player who has hit most goals in a single game (AC Milan 3-0 Lazio). This year's edition in Beijing offers Eto’o the chance to move to the top of the all-time Super Cup goalscoring charts.

BEIJING - A strong first half and and a wonderful goal by Wesley Sneijder weren't enough. AC Milan overturned the result to win the 2011 Italian Super Cup thanks to goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Kevin Prince Boateng. The Nerazzurri were in control for the first 35 minutes. The Rossoneri, who started coming into the game at the end of the first half, turned the game on its head in the space of 9 minutes after the break when, to be fair, they were the better side. What remains is a sense of regret at not having made more of the early dominance, the question marks over whether Gennaro Gattuso should have remained on the pitch after twenty minutes (a nasty foul shortly after being booked), and the protests - in vain - about AC Milan's first goal, with a foul in the build-up (Boateng on Stankovic or Robinho on Chivu). The final scoreline is a repeat of two years ago (2-1 win for Lazio, which preceded the Treble), with the added illusion of a  stoppage-time equaliser by Samuel Eto'o's ruled out for offside. AC Milan 2-1 Inter.

FIRST HALF. Twenty-two seconds. That's how long it took for the first foul to arrive: Boateng on Motta. An early signal that this was a real derby. After 1 minute 40 seconds came the second, Van Bommel clattering into Thiago Motta. Gasperini went with for a 3-5-1-1 formation with Sneijder free to invent behind Eto'o, while Allegri stuck to his trusty 4-3-1-2 and opted for Robinho over Pato in the starting line-up. The first shot came after 5 minutes and it was for Inter and Sneijder; the Dutchman was having an early influence on things as he played between the lines. AC Milan had a great chance a minute later when Ibrahimovic threaded a ball into the box for Robinho to run onto but the Brazilian fired wide. The game was sweeping from one end to the other with both sides looking to make quick breaks after winning possession and the both defensive lines were high up the pitch. The majority of Inter's moves were being created down the left channel, where Obi was proving to be a thorn in the Rossoneri's side.

Gasperini's three-man defence is not the usual static back line and Ranocchia and Chivu were taking it in turns to surge forward and create an extra man in midfield. Inter were closing down and winning balls and in the 13th minute a mistake allowed the Nerazzurri to break: Alvarez headed forward for Eto'o but the Cameroon striker's path was blocked on the edge of the box. AC Milan were very timid in this opening stage, at times seemingly happy to let Inter keep possession. Stankovic, who passed a late fitness test following his injury picked up in training on Thursday, was bossing the game in front of the defence, snapping at heels the second an opponent received the ball. It was the Dragon who had Inter's second chance on 18 minutes following some nice build-up play: his shot down from outside the box was too high.

In the 20th minute the derby sparked back into life with the first key decision of the derby. Gattuso, having been booked moments earlier for a nasty foul on Alvarez, brought down Obi on the edge of box and Rizzoli awarded a free kick but spared Gattuso the red card. Justice would soon be served, though. Sneijder's effort might well have been guided by remote control, such was the inch-perfect precision: Abbiati got the slightest of touches but it made no difference because the curling ball came in high and at pace, and tucked itself just inside the near post. A sweet strike indeed. 1-0 to Inter and a deserved lead after 22 minutes.

The goal, unexpectedly perhaps, seemed to slow down the match and also (partly) Inter, now happier to let AC Milan take the initiative. The Nerazzurri rear guard dropped off a few yards allowing the Rossoneri space up to the edge of the box, making it harder to break quickly. On 35 minutes Alvarez clocked back in again at the end of a move involving good off-the-ball movement and a neat link-up with Sneijder, sending his strike from distance over. Eto'o had his first shot on goal in the 37th minute, his angled effort saved low by Abbiati. AC Milan remembered they were also in the game at this point and a dangerous-looking whipped cross for Boateng ran into Julio Cesar's arms. That was quickly followed by a near-equaliser as the ball came back off the upright after Ibrahimovic had got his head onto the end of Abate's long ball. The Rossoneri ended the half in the ascendancy.

Tempers started to flare as the derby atmosphere increased. Inter looked to have lost their spark of the first half and were also starting to get worked up. AC Milan knew it and they were playing better and producing a kind football seen only in glimpses in the first half. A long ball from Abate for Pato (who had replaced Robinho) was met with a good first touch by the Brazilian and followed up with an early shot that Julio Cesar managed to tip onto his right-hand post. However, Boateng steamed in muscling his way past Chivu to get to the rebound and put his side in front. AC Milan 2-1 Inter after 69 minutes.

That was the cue for Pazzini to make his entrance. With little more than 15 minutes to go and Inter behind. Gasperini's team had used up a lot of their fuel in the first half; now they had to find some reserves from somewhere and not let the psychological blow of going behind take hold, while AC Milan were sitting back and waiting, having to work less. Fresh legs appeared in the shape of Castaignos and he immediately created a chance for Eto'o at the far post (83th minute), but the Cameroonian's volley went wide. The Dutch youngster had replaced Obi and taked up a position on the right, with Faraoni on the left and Sneijder in the hole: Inter were mixing up the men and their formation but their play just wasn't fluid anymore – a real pity. In the final minutes of stoppage time, Eto'o had a possible equaliser ruled out for offside. And thus the Chinese derby went to AC Milan.

AC Milan 2-1 Inter (HT: 0-1)
Scorers: Sneijder 22; Ibrahimovic 60, Boateng 69.

AC Milan: 32 Abbiati; 20 Abate, 13 Nesta, 33 Thiago Silva, 19 Zambrotta; 8 Gattuso (23 Ambrosini, 75), 4 Van Bommel, 10 Seedorf; 27 Boateng (28 Emanuelson, 81); 11 Ibrahimovic, 70 Robinho (7 Pato, 62).
Subs: 1 Amelia, 76 Yepes, 25 Bonera, 99 Cassano.
Coach: Allegri.

Inter: 1 Julio Cesar; 23 Ranocchia, 25 Samuel, 26 Chivu; 4 Zanetti, 8 Thiago Motta, 5 Stankovic (7 Pazzini, 74), 11 Alvarez (37 Faraoni, 63), 20 Obi (30 Castaignos, 81); 10 Sneijder, 9 Eto'o.
Subs: 12 Castellazzi, 44 Bianchetti, 77 Muntari, 27 Pandev.
Coach: Gasperini.

Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Bologna); assistants: Copelli and Grilli; fourth official: Mazzoleni.
Booked: Gattuso (19), Sneijder (60), Zambrotta (64), Boateng (77), Ambrosini (85).
Added time: 1+5 minutes.
Corners: 2 for Inter.
Fouls: AC Milan 12; Inter 11.

starting lineups

substitutes