The Derby d’Italia didn't need any more edge to it, but it got it anyway.
Matches between Inter and Juventus were given that moniker back in the 1960s by Italy’s greatest ever football writer, Gianni Brera, and the two will go head-to-head once again at San Siro on Sunday evening. Arriving at that fixture as Serie A’s top two, fans on both sides will hope for a victory, each recalling the times they felt wronged by the other in a rivalry that is steeped in bitterness and acrimony.
Brera coined the term to add gravitas to meetings between the country’s two most successful clubs at the time, but in truth, the seeds had already been planted thanks to a bitter dispute at the end of the 1960/61 campaign. A match in Turin that season was abandoned after a pitch invasion and was eventually awarded as a win to Inter but, after appealing to the FA, Juventus secured a replay that prompted a disgusted Nerazzurri to respond by playing their youth team.
Serie A table before this weekend pic.twitter.com/fpkPyptiZk
— JuveDesigner (@juvedesigner) October 3, 2019
Juve went on to record the fixture's most one-sided result (9-1!) and, in doing so, they secured not only the league title but also the top-scorer crown and even that year's Ballon d’Or for Omar Sivori who netted six times in that match alone. The 1970s and '80s were a quiet period for the derby as Inter continually failed to challenge the Bianconeri, until an incident-filled encounter in 1998 brought the old hatred and bile back to the surface.
That season saw the duo locked in a closely contested title race once again, and when Inter travelled to Turin, they played out a match marred by poor officiating and questionable calls on both sides. Brazilian star Ronaldo attempted to skip past Juve's Mark Iuliano and was body-checked by the Italian defender only to see his penalty appeal denied by referee Piero Ceccarini.
Political Fist-Fight
He then almost immediately awarded a spot-kick at the other end, Gianluca Pagliuca saving Alessandro Del Piero's penalty only to see the Juve Captain did score the winning goal and secure yet another Scudetto for the Old Lady. Inter boss Gigi Simoni was sent off for screaming "you should be ashamed" at the official but that was nothing compared to what would happen later in the Italian Parliament, a session ending when two deputies began a fist-fight amid allegations of match-fixing.
Clips showing the 20 seconds between Iuliano’s body-check and the awarding of a penalty to Juve became among the most replayed in history, slowed down, replayed and dissected on television for hours. Two years later, Bianconeri defender Paolo Montero was banned for punching Inter midfielder Luigi di Biaggio in the ear, before the events of the 2006 Calciopoli scandal – and each side's view of the other's role in it – pushed the hatred to a whole new level.
Now, this foul by Marko Iuliano on Ronaldo is the most blatant penalty decision-ever not given. Was a title-decider in 1997-98 and the decision was even debated in parliament. Juve beat Inter 1-0 and ultimately won the title pic.twitter.com/ftZ2Pne1tl
— Andrew Cesare (@AndrewCesare) February 12, 2018
Juve were, of course, demoted to Serie B, while Inter signed both Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic relatively cheaply; taking full advantage of the precarious position of the Old Lady. That relegation meant the fixture was absent from the calendar for the first time ever as neither had been in the second tier before, but the break did little to cool the levels of vitriol, Giorgio Chiellini forcibly separated from former team-mate Ibrahimovic in the first meeting after Juve earned promotion.
In 2009, things escalated further still when Jose Mourinho’s Inter visited Turin, their bus pelted with eggs and rotten fruit as it arrived at the stadium, but the abuse directed Mario Balotelli – playing upfront for the Nerazzurri – would be far worse. A constant chorus of "if everybody jumps, Balotelli dies" rang out loudly throughout the game, eventually resulting in Juventus being fined and forced to play a match behind closed doors.
Mourinho was Mourinho, sent off for sarcastically applauding a decision by the referee in the first half, Balotelli pretended a Felipe Melo elbow had caught him in the face which resulted in a red card being given to the Brazilian midfielder. It got so heated that even the normally placid Gigi Buffon snapped in the ensuing scuffle, grabbing international team-mate Thiago Motta by the throat as tensions boiled over.
Antonio Conte is no stranger to these clashes, even pouring fuel on the fire back in 2002 when Inter famously choked away their title hopes. Going into the final day of the season the Nerazzurri were a point clear at the top of the table only to lose 4-2 to Lazio, Juve beating Udinese and Roma winning against Torino to see both sides leapfrog the Milan-based side.
The Bianconeri would win the league, Conte using a live TV interview to bait Inter’s Marco Materazzi, relishing his words as he yelled into the camera with a mixture of enjoyment and vengeance. The defender took the bait, replying that the Juve man “should buy himself a new wig with his championship bonus!”
@iomatrix23 to #Conte: "Buy yourself a new wig with Scudetto bonus"
Conte: "No one uses wigs anymore but you can have hair transplant."
— Arjun Pradeep (@IndianRegista) May 5, 2016
“I’d like to remind Mr Materazzi that nobody uses wigs anymore,” Conte shot back. “You can have a hair transplant now, but, unfortunately for him, brain transplants still don’t exist….”
The Next Chapter Awaits
After steering the Old Lady to three titles as a Coach, he has now swapped sides, Inter the ones who go into the latest round of Serie A action sitting top of the table. They are the only team still boasting a 100% record after six matches and looking every inch like Scudetto contenders.
They are, obviously, using the 3-5-2 that has long been a hallmark of Conte’s career and have been tenacious, vibrant and ruthless, the Coach constantly screaming on the touchline despite overseeing a unit that is dispatching opponents with relative ease. He has found able deputies in Diego Godin and Romelu Lukaku, the latter anchoring the defence while the former leads the line in bruising fashion.
Already on three goals after just six appearances, the Belgian has quickly shrugged off the malaise that engulfed the final months of his Manchester United tenure to rediscover his best form, yet it is in midfield where the Nerazzurri have changed the most. Stefano Sensi has been nothing short of a revelation since joining from Sassuolo, already weighing in with three goals and two assists in the early weeks of the season.
Aaron Ramsey appreciation tweet. In just a handful of games he's showed what we've lacked for the best part of 4 years. He adds something completely different, thinks 2 steps ahead, and has shown his commitment by the ease with which he's integrated. Signed for free. Incredible. pic.twitter.com/nGAeiHP1CQ
— Juvefc.com (@juvefcdotcom) September 29, 2019
Inter will have to be at their best to contend with Maurizio Sarri’s Juve, the team beginning to click over the past few games as Aaron Ramsey begins to exert his own influence in midfield. Linking up with Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala, the movement and invention of the former Arsenal man has been a huge weapon for the Bianconeri and he was rested for the midweek clash with Bayer Leverkusen to be ready for this encounter.
It will be a tough game for both sides, and Conte has done his best to downplay the rivalry. “I've read some articles that talk about the upcoming Inter-Juventus as a match where I'll be showered with insults,” he said during a recent press conference. “I have enough experience to say that this was done deliberately to give us some stab wounds.”
In truth, it was – where these fixtures are concerned – simply the continuation of normal service. There will be a strange air as Juventus are likely to wear their new half-and-half shirts home after dropping the black and white stripes they were once so synonymous with, but the man in the opposite dugout was once part of the club’s fabric too. The phrase “Antonio Conte’s Inter” is even more jarring than any design choice the two sides may have made, and it certainly adds another layer of intrigue to a clash that has plenty of it already.
The Derby d’Italia didn't need any more edge to it, but it got it anyway.
