Italian SuperCup 2011 - Inter v AC Milan Preview

Here we are just days before Inter take on AC Milan in the 2011 Italian Super Cup at the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing. The match, which will be shown live on RaiUno in Italy, kicks off at 20:00 local time (14:00 CET) on Saturday 6 August or for those like me that live outside of Italy you can find live streams of the match online at  FreeFootball.org or at Free Live Sports TV.  With the Derby della Madonnina in Serie A not coming till the 18th week (Jan 15th 2012), i'm thankful for this years Supercup being against our cross town rivals, even though it won't be played at the Meazza, as that is a long time to have to wait for one of the highlights of the Calcio calender.

A few people have asked me whether I think the atmosphere during the match will be as intense as a normal Derby and I would have to say that I don't see why it wouldn't be, there have been rumours over the last few weeks that the Curva Nord and the Curva Sud won't be making the trip to China, which in my opinion would be a shame, but even so judging by the welcome Inter received upon arrival in China i'd say there's no danger of there not being a great atmosphere for the event.

AC Milan v Inter match review & reactions

Last night the derby didn't go according to plan for the Nerazzurri, the match started badly when straight from the kick off Inter were caught sleeping as Milan flew out of the starting blocks and Pato hit the back of the net in just 45 seconds. After that Inter took about 30 minutes to start looking like they could reply but it wasn't meant to be as in the second half Chivu got a red card after which Milan seemed to run rings around Inter which was shown when Pato netted his second, the kick in the teeth really came on 88 minutes when Zanetti gave away a penalty that Cassano put away finishing the game 3-0. All in all it was a terrible match for Inter with Sneijder & Eto'o hardly affecting the game, there were two positives though firstly Julio Cesar had a great game and was Inter's man of the match for me as if it wasn't for him it could have easily been 6-0 to Milan. The second is that the Guiseppe Meazza pitch looked much better after being returfed.

AC Milan v Inter Preview

Well here we are on the eve of the Milan derby after the International break which saw 13 Nerazzurri players representing their countries.  As you know the derby is always an important match for both Milanese teams but this one is set to be extra special as a win for the Nerazzurri will put them a point above Milan with only seven games remaining in the season.  Over the last month many have tryed to tell us that the result of this match won't be decisive to the race for the Scudetto, this i feel has been said to releive some of the pressure by not putting to much emphasis on needing the result from this match, but we all know that even though it won't guarantee the title for either side it will give the winning side a major boost and i wouldn't be suprised if the winner of this match goes on to claim the title.

Leonardo: Milan is still the number 1 city in world football

 Searching through the Internet i found this interesting article on the Manchester evening news website, that shows that the Milanese teams are keeping their great city in the hearts of all football fans. And in reply to my Dad & Brothers who are Man Utd fans and claim that Inter are no where near as good as their precious Utd all i can say is that the stats speak for themselves - 18 times League champions, 3 European Champions and a Treble each for both teams makes Inter & Man Utd equal in stature.  So to my dear family and other Utd fans that haven't seen the Nerazzurri light - Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

Ibra takes another swipe at Barcelona and claims Milan are "more important" than Inter

What is Ibra's problem?  He's still moaning that after Barca paid 70 million Euros for him then hardly played him, maybe that's because you're not as good as you think you are Ibra?  Personally i have never really rated him, yeah he scored some important goals for Inter but there's never any team spirit with him it's all about Ibra for him, he just moves from one club to another having a go at his previous clubs and making out as though he's the best striker in history and the whole football world should bow at his feet!  Just grow up and get a grip!  Have a read of the article below published by ESPN soccernet, and let me know what you all think about him and his massive ego!