Split With Inter
In the early years of the club, the Rossineri were faced with both tremendous victories and tremendous adversity. Within the first decade of the club’s founding, Milan had won their first three Scudettos(Italian/Series A Champions). Their first came in May of 1901, a little under two years after the club’s founding, with the following two coming about in 1906 and 1907. Then, internal strife within the club plagued Milan. A rising sense of national pride within Italy made its way into the Milan locker room, causing a split between the players. Some wanted to only compete in a league with foreigners, while others did not care about nationality and simply wanted to play football at the highest level possible. Then in 1908, the Italian Football Federation created two distinct cups, the Federal Championship(Italian players only) and the Italian Championship(Italian players only). The internal debate within the club was further exacerbated, and Kiplin decided to take matters into his own hands, he founded his own club. This new club was called Football Club Internazionale, now known as Inter Milan. The goal of this new club was to bring in the best football players, regardless of nationality. This was also the beginning of the greatest rivalry in all of Italian football, the Derby della Madonnina or Derby di Milano(Milan Derby). To this day, though there are two clubs within Milano, only one is referred to as “Milan”. If you were to call AC Milan by its full name to a fan, they may even take great offense. Afterall, in their minds, there is only one club worthy of bearing the title of the team of Milano, and there is only one club with the history to bear the weight of such a title, that club’s name is Associazione Calcio Milan.
The rivalry between Milano’s two clubs continues to this day, with Milan’s cumulative record of 79 victories, 91 losses and 69 draws. The Derby della Madonnina is different from other famous rivalries in sport that may have started due to politics, religion or economics, this rivalry came about simply for what it was, competition. Now, it has become a spectacle that thousands of people come to witness every single year. This game not only happens in the regular season twice every season, but can also happen in the post-league matches as well. On one such occasion in the 2004-2005 season, Inter played Milan in the quarter finals of the Champions league. While up 3-0 cumulatively, in the 73rd minute of the second match, flares were thrown by Inter fans onto the pitch. As a result, Milan’s goalkeeper Dida received first-degree burns on his body, and the match was later given to Milan. Milan went onto the final where they were defeated by Liverpool in penalties. In all, the extent of this rivalry cannot be overstated, and is a core aspect of not only Rossoneri history but the history of Italian football as a whole.