Will the Derby d’Italia decide the fate of Italy
“Man, I hit him with punches that'd bring down the walls of a city. Lawdy, Lawdy, he's a great champion.” That's what Joe Frazier said after a masterclass of a fight against the true GOAT Muhammad Ali. The Derby d’Italia has the same circumstances surrounding it and it could mark the end of an era.
In all likelihood, Antonio Conte and his Inter Milan side will become Joe Fraizer and Juventus will be the dominating and all-powerful media darling in Muhammad Ali. And maybe, just maybe Conte will say the exact same thing after their battle against Juventus. That's if history does repeat itself and in all likelihood it will, because history almost always repeats itself. Watch the Derby Della Madonnina over the last few years, Arsenal at Old Trafford and social media. It may differ in some ways but there's always an air of commonality between the incidents and that's what the Derby Italia has become.
Inter have failed to win for a really long time. Juventus have won and won them convincingly, the exact same way they've won in Italy. Simply because the Old Lady are dominant, magnificent and the undefeated serial champions of Italy. They're winners and that's an incredible understatement but it’s also a fact that people often tend to forget. Under Massimiliano Allegri, and Antonio Conte before him, they changed Italian football and maybe not for the better. But they've changed it and did it with precision and an air of they-will-win-what-are-we-playing football for.
That wasn’t always the case for Juventus, but they made it happen. Yet they've never had the style and or at least the style Napoli, Arsenal and even an AC Milan of the past had and loved showing off. An unadulterated hit of football that makes fans swoon, critics’ overuse adjectives and makes social media go mental. That's what Maurizio Sarri brings to the table, via a blend of rigorous tactics that has often, during his spell at Chelsea, been called boring. His appointment and Massimiliano Allegri leaving were rather surprising to a few but they needed style and a proven Italian to lead them forward after years of dominance.
That's what the former Chelsea boss is and brilliantly so, as he proved in England, much to the chagrin of Blues fans around the world. Yet in Inter Milan they face a true blue rival and someone who might finally be able to beat them and beat them convincingly. A real rival, if you’d like and like almost every Antonio Conte side, they’ve started their season swimmingly. They walked into the season with a coach that started Juventus’ revolution and now a coach that has maybe started one at the San Siro. Because the football they’ve played has been effective and rather brilliant to watch.
It’s ruthless and blood-thirsty, much like an early Juventus, AC Milan in their prime, Manchester United during Sir Alex Ferguson’s run and PSG in the Ligue 1. A side that wants to nothing more than win and that’s an Inter Milan we have not seen in a really long time. Already you can see the impact that Antonio Conte has had on the Nerazzurri, something he has done so well in the years gone by. But while there is always the Conte angle in this version, the Derby Italia has so much more.
Because this is not just a mere Italian derby between two sisters, it’s so much more than that. It’s the 1960/61 title debacle, where questionable decisions lead to Juventus winning the title, and that started everything. Tiny, miniscule decisions that changed the title from Inter’s favour to Juventus and ignited the battle. The next big thing wasn’t for another thirty odd years, where once again questionable decisions saw Juventus win another title, although to this date Inter fans will claim it as theirs.
The world moved on, and then came the kicker. The biggest decision of them all and a decision that for once went in Inter Milan’s favour much to the chagrin of Juventus and it’s a decision they still hate to this date. So much so, that Juventus have now filed appeal number 30 to get the 2005/06 title stripped off Inter Milan. Why are Juventus so desperate to win it?? It was the year that they had the title stripped and they were relegated thanks to the Calciopoli scandal.
The scandal shocked and decimated Italian football as Inter Milan was awarded the title. For them, it meant the world because it was their first Scudetto since 1989. And that piled onto all the previous drama involved between the two sides. The rest includes Mauro Icardi, Zlatan, Patrick Vieira-esque bad blood. Two stripped Scudetti-esque bad blood, and the shirt that makes reference to the stripped titles bad blood. It’s the humiliation of relegation to the Serie B-esque bad blood and its bad blood in general which adds fuel to the fire.
Some may say it doesn’t matter, and it may not, because when the football being played in the present is so damn good maybe even great, it points to something better. The start of a brand new era for one side and as Inter hope maybe not just another good start overhyped. Because they have been overhyped in the past but nothing has even come close to what Jose Mourinho achieved with the club. For all his failures after that Mourinho came, saw and conquered the Serie A in the early 2010s before leaving an Italian and maybe even an a Biscione legend.
And this could be their chance. A badly run Juventus adapting to a new manager and all the screws that come with as their era of dominance potential comes to an end. But even then can the very man who started the whispers of an unbeatable legend bring it down and with it start an era worthy of a multi-billion stadium. Start a new era in Italian football, destroy the they-will-win-what-are-we-playing-football-for attitude and maybe, just maybe it changes the balance in the Serie A for the better.