Five things to know about the #DerbyMilano

MILAN – The days tick down to the #DerbyMilano on Sunday night at San Siro. We have already retraced some epic moments and characters who have made their mark on this match forever. Now we’ll tell you some facts about the Milan Derby.

ALL THE DERBY’S VENUES The first #DerbyMilano, a friendly, was played on 10 January 1909. Although it didn’t take place in Italy, but rather in Chiasso, Switzerland, and ended in a 2-1 victory for AC Milan. From that day, Inter and AC Milan have officially played each other 224 times, playing in various locations across Milan, but only one abroad: the game in Beijing, in the 2011 Italian Super Cup, remains the only official game played between the two teams outside of Milan. The first derbies were played on the Campo di Porta Monforte, the pitch where the Rossoneri used to played, which is now Via Bronzetti. Other games took place at the Arena Civica, on the pitch on Via Goldoni which Inter usually used and on the one at Viale Lombardia. The first derby at San Siro dates back to the friendly on 19 September 1926, which Inter won 6-3.

THE GOAL CRAZY DERBY: 6 NOVEMBER 1949 At the start of the promising 1949/50 season, Inter won what will go down in history as the most incredible #MilanoDerby of all time. The one that, even to this day, holds the record for the highest number of goals scored. “Fictional reality at San Siro” was the Gazzetta dello Sport’s headline the following day when recounting the 6-5 goal fest in which the Nerazzurri came out on top. An absurd result, especially because it came about after AC Milan had made a blistering start, going 4-1 up after 19 minutes: it was 2-0 to the Rossoneri (a double from ex-Inter player Candiani) by the seventh minute, then Nyers’ reply for Inter was met with Rossoneri goals from Nordahl and Liedholm. The Nerazzurri reacted strongly: goals from Amadei, another from Nyers, then Amadei again levelled the game. Benito Veleno Lorenzi gave the Nerazzurri a 5-4 lead in the 58th minute before Annovazzi equalised a minute later. It was then Amadei’s hat-trick goal in the 64th minute that handed Inter the victory.

THE HIGHEST GOALSCORERS IN #DERBYMILANO HISTORY Ukrainian Andriy Shevchenko is the highest scorer in the history of the Milan Derby, with 14 goals. He is followed by the Nerazzurri legend, Giuseppe Meazza, on 13 goals (twelve for Inter, and one for AC Milan). In third place, both on eleven goals, are two extraordinary forwards who exhilarated the Milan Derbies: Istvan Nyers and Gunnar Nordahl. However, in recent times, the highest goalscorers have been Diego Milito (with six goals) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (again with six goals: four for the Rossoneri and two for the Nerazzurri).

APPEARANCES, RECORDS, TALISMEN Three memorable captains have made the most Milan Derby appearances: Paolo Maldini with 56, Javier Zanetti with 47 and Giuseppe Bergomi with 44.

The fastest goal scored in the #DerbyMilano came courtesy of a Nerazzurri great, Sandro Mazzola: on 24 February 1963 he scored after just 13 seconds in the game that finished 1-1.

Water Samuel has an almost perfect record in the #DerbyMilano. In 2012 he scored the winner with a header to make it ten Derby wins out of ten for him. A statistic that was eventually spoiled by the Derby loss in 2014.

STATISTICS AND PREVIOUS GAMES This will be the 172nd #DerbyMilano in Serie A with the Nerazzurri’s 65 wins trumping AC Milan’s total of 51, while the other 55 ended with honours even.

Inter are the team against whom AC Milan have played the most matches in Serie A (171) as well as being the team who have scored the most top-flight goals against the Rossoneri (238).