22/23 SEMI-FINALS

By Ben Peddie, Staff Writer

AC Milan VS Inter Milan

In preparation for the upcoming champions league semi-finals, we will be looking at both ties and their historical significance as well as my opinion on how each tie is going to go.

What a tie this is with the potential to go down in the history books as a battle between two teams with already a huge amount of animosity for each other. With both teams from a city as rich in culture as Milan with fans as passionate to match any in the world, the Milan derby (Derby della Madonnina) has provided countless moments to remember including a famous champion’s league tie back in 2005 which provided the iconic image of Marco Materazzi and Rui Costa you can see below.

To understand how this rivalry came to be however you need to look back further to 1908 where members of AC Milan had a dispute over the signing of foreign players, in turn the members split up and this resulted in the formation of Internazionale and the birth of one of the biggest rivalries in European sport.

Since the team’s formations they have both competed respectively at the top of the game with a similar level of success and number of trophies with each having secured 1 the last 2 Serie A titles, AC Milan being the reigning champions, which has resulted in both sitting on 19 Scudetto’s to add to their bulging trophy cabinets.

I am here however to write about the champions league with a momentous tie between the two which in context has been provided with extra pressure due to the upcoming closure of their shared stadium, the famous Stadio San Siro, this has led to potentially the last Milan derby at the San Siro being a champion’s league semi-final. As I previously mentioned this is a repeat of a famous tie between the two which took place back in 2005 with a famous AC Milan team proceeding having won the tie 5-0 on aggregate despite a stoppage in play due to a disruption of flairs from the Inter Milan fans which included one striking Milan keeper Dida who suffered first-degree burns. The players returned to finish the game however the flairs continued which resulted in the famous picture of Materazzi and Costa gaping at the madness ahead of them. The team made it all the way to the final and has gone down as one of the best teams to lose the champions league final in a dramatic final against Liverpool, the team included players such as Maldini, Cafu, Pirlo, Kaka, Gattuso and Crespo just to name a few. The team also included manager Carlo Ancelotti, a manager who has won the trophy the most times in history with four including one last year with Real Madrid making him the current holder whilst he still remains in this year’s competition as he prepares for his own semi-final against Manchester City.

Looking at this season’s upcoming semi-final between the two it should prove a tight contest with both sitting on 57 points in the league proving both to be on a similar level however of the three games the two sides have played against each other so far this season Inter have come out on top twice including a Supercoppa Italiana final win whereas AC Milan beat Inter once in their home league fixture. Head-to-head Inter also come out stronger having won 80 matches between them with AC Milan winning 71 and 67 matches ending in a draw. So far you would slightly edge the tie towards Inter based on the derbies recent results with both teams displaying similar levels of form having only won two of their least 5 games.

Inter Milan however will be without one of their main centre backs in Milan Skriniar which could prove vital and AC Milan will also have an advantage in terms of their European pedigree having won 7 champions league titles to Inter Milan’s 3. These 7 titles make AC Milan the second team in the competition’s history with the most champions league titles behind Real Madrid, I believe this can have an effect on ties like this as that level of pedigree in this prestigious competition can affect the mindset of their opponents going into the game. I believe this is what helped take AC Milan through their quarter final tie against Napoli despite their fellow Italian team sitting top of Serie A currently 22 points ahead of both Milan teams with a high likelihood of them securing the title. I believe this alongside the potency of players such as Rafael Leão who sits in the top five of both Serie A’s scoring and assist charts will take AC Milan through to the final after securing a 3-2 semi-final win on aggregate.

Real Madrid VS Manchester City

In the other tie of this year’s champions league semi-finals, we are provided with a very different clash between two teams who couldn’t be further apart in terms of their history with Real Madrid arguably being the biggest club in the world and certainly the most successful club in this competition with 14 titles including as I mentioned last year’s champions league title win under AC Milan’s former manager Carlo Ancolotti who has once again led them to the semi-finals. Manchester City however are a team making their own history in more recent memories after their takeover in 2008 by Sheikh Mansour when the club was heavily invested in and turned around from their lack of achievement prior to their takeover.

Similarly, to the Milan tie this is also a repeat of a previous champion’s league tie however much more recent as Real Madrid beat Manchester City in the semi-finals last season also in a dramatic fashion however on the pitch rather than in the stands as Manchester City suffered a 2-minute collapse where Rodrygo scored a double to take the game into extra time where Benzema won and then scored a penalty to take them to the final having won the tie 6-5 on aggregate.

Looking onward to this season however I believe this will be a very different set of matches despite my previous statements about European pedigree for both AC Milan and Real Madrid. I see Manchester City taking this tie as they have acquired what Real Madrid had last season in Benzema and they didn’t, being a ruthless goal scorer and winner in Erling Haaland, a type of player that can negate the un-measurable power teams like Real Madrid have in this competition. This was shown in last season’s tie as Man City should have been out of sight in the first leg however Benzema kept them in the tie with 2 goals and was heavily involved in the comeback in the second leg as he never gave up on a chance and put the ball back in for Rodrygo’s first goal. Manchester City have developed their game significantly over the course of the season with Haaland who despite changes in formation and play has continuously scored goals all season due to his ruthless nature that has put him on 50 goals this season in all competitions as I'm writing this, a level of goal scoring that could take them through alone. Pep Guardiola however is also a tactical master mind who has once again come under scrutiny this season with claims the system has gotten worse with Haaland in the team however Guardiola seems to have once again found the answer with a new formation and set of tactics to get the best of Haaland and reinforce their defensive structure. He has achieved this with the use of four centre backs with John Stones moving into midfield and the team adopting a back three in transition despite the success Guardiola found in his use of inverted full-backs, this has made the team play the best it has all season right when they need to for both the champions league and their title race. This combination I believe will result in the same level of dominance they had in last season’s semi-final however with a stronger defensive stability and a player like Haaland that could take the game out of sight or always maintain a level of fear that makes Real Madrid reluctant to push forward in the fashion they had previously.

To conclude my thoughts, I believe Manchester City will have what it takes to go through to the final 4-2 on aggregate as despite Real Madrid’s European pedigree I believe there is an inevitability around Man City and with the hopes of a historic treble on the cards being backed by natural born winners such as Haaland along with many of Manchester City’s players still knowing what it takes to beat Madrid in the champions league having knocked them out in the last of 16 back in august of 2020. This would result in a huge final between Manchester City and AC Milan posing many narratives such as a possible underdog win for AC Milan or a historical first champions league title win for Manchester City which could also contribute to a historic treble.