5 things you probably didn't know about the Milan's derby

As you might know, our magazine is based in Milan and, as I imagine you already know, the Milan derby is scheduled on Saturday. Regardless of the favorite football teams of the members of the editorial staff of nss sports, the match between Inter and AC Milan is a game that we feel particularly, because Milan is our adoptive city, the place where we live. It's much more than a football match, but a football history book that perhaps many of you have never browsed: that's why it's almost a duty to tell you the 5 things you (probably) don't know about the Milan derby. 

The First

October, 17, 1908. At the Porta Nuova railway station 30 kids gathered with backpacks and black and blue and black and red vertical striped T-shirts. Destination: Chiasso. The aforementioned kids are Milan and Internazionale (founded a few months before) players, and they're about to get on a train headed to Chiasso because it's where the Coppa Chiasso is going to be played. Along with Milan and Internazionale, the partecipants are Chiasso, Ausonia, Lugano and Bellinzona. Milan has won the two previous editions and if he wins this too it will take home the trophy. Once on the traing, the guys take out the perfect pre-match snack, bread, salami and wine, a classic. Arrived in Chiasso, the kids go to the hotel and rest for a while before the tournament because all the matches are scheduled for the next day, October, 18. In the morning will take the qualifications, while the afternoon will se the semifinals and finals. To the final arrive three teams, Milan, Internazionale and Chiasso, which is playing at home. Because of the structure of the tournament, a solution must be found to understand which of the three teams will enter the final, since there's time to play only one semifinal. The organizers flip the coin, which rewards the black and blues, while Milan and Chiasso have to fight to get to the final. Milan, not without difficulties, manages to win and has to face the Internazionale for the first derby ever. There will be two periods of 25 minute each, Milan will rely on its symbol player, Pierino Lana, a good midfielder, quick and smart, whereas Internazionale will bet everything on the body and the class of Virgilio Fossati, halfback, captain and coach of the team. On the field there is no history, Milan is stronger and it scores two goals in the first half. Inter manages to score a goal in the second half, but Milan wins for 2-1. The kids head all together to the station, it's Sunday and many of them the next day will have to go to work or school (some of them are aged 16). The first Milanese derby is gone and luckly we were going to see many more in the future. 

Peppino Prisco in AC Milan's locker room

March, 14, 1999. The Milanese derby ends 2-2, Leonardo, current Milan's technical area general director, scored twice, N'Gotty autogoal and Zanetti goal for Inter. What really caught everyone's attention did not happen on the field, though, but in the locker room, precisely in the Milan one. A mysterious figure, wearing a coat with the collar up, quickly and by stealth, enters and leaves the locker room. The thing is that, that man, that not everyone was able to recognize, was Inter's president, lawyer Peppino Prisco. The question is who or what brought him to that room, The answer arrived only two months later, and not from the lawayer himself, but from the person who managed to bring him there, Silvio Berlusconi. 

"I dragged lawyer Prisco in Milan's locker room for the first time. He came and he was super nice, as always. Then, though, he said "I need to go, I need to go..." and when I asked him where he had to go so fast he answered "I need to go to confession" 

MilanInter United

I know it might sound crazy but let's keep in mind that as Peppino Prisco used to say "We were born from a Milan's rib. So we basically started from nothing..." So at the beginning of time, Milan and Inter were the only teams, then after 1908 things changed. In the course of the years many people were trying to reunite the teams, with predictable results. The first time was in October, 1965 in San Siro for the Italian-British friendship trophy. Liedholm and Herrera's Milaninter United challenges Chelsea under the eyes of Philip of Edinburgh, the teams are wearing the crossed jersey, the one made for Inter's 100th anniversary, and red shorts. Schnellinger and Trapattoni, Guarnieri and Picchi along with Corso. The only ones missing are Rivera and Mazzola who are playing in the national team to get ready for Korea... 

Report Cards

Right after the end of the war, football, as well as the entire country, was trying to go back to the normality that war had borught away. During the matches played at San Siro a little magazine, Milaninter, was passed in the terraces. Aldo Missaglia and Gigi Scarambone were two journalists who worked for this weekly magazine and they thought of a different way to report on the matches and they came up with a simple but at the same time innovative idea, report cards. The couple managed to find a sponsor to make the thing even more appealing, mister Bonetta would raffle watches for the best ones. The idea was so well received that Nils Liedholmd gathered them and created a collection. "Annovazzi and Schiaffino got a loto of 9, but none of them ever got to 10, while Brighenti once threatened me for a 4." 

Herbert Burgess's apartment

It seems that at the end of the 20s in Milan it was very hard to find a house, so one had to be satisfied with what he found, which is exactly what Herbert Burgees did. He was Milan's coach in 1927 and in 1928 he had the hard job to come after Vittorio Pozzo on the bench, he came from Manchester and he had been England's national team captain. He had to settle for a four-roomed flat, rommy and with all the comfort of the time, onyl flaw: it was not bright enough.Yes, because the flat was esxactly under the field, where today are located the locker rooms. Getting to the field was not difficult for him. 

Bonus track: Saul Malatrasi  

There's a player who was able to win the championship, the Champions League and the Intercontinental championship with both teams. We're talking about Saul Malatrasi, born in 1938, a very multifunctional player. He could play as defender, stopper and midfielder without any problem. He was a truly unique and reliable player.