Milan [Italy], May 10 (ANI): Eternal rivals AC Milan and Inter Milan will contest an all-Italian Champions League semifinal when they go head-to-head at San Siro on May 11. 20 years after they last met in the final four of Europe’s most prestigious club competition.
This season’s two-legged tie is the first all-Italian Champions League semifinal encounter since that meeting in 2003, in which Milan advanced courtesy of a precious away goal after both legs ended level (0-0, 1-1).
The last time the two clubs squared off in the Champions League came in the 2004-05 quarterfinals. Once again, Milan won a stormy clash in which the second leg was abandoned after 72 mins due to crowd trouble and Milan goalkeeper Dida being hit by a flare thrown from the stands, with UEFA awarding Carlo Ancelotti’s side a default 3-0 win to boost their aggregate victory to 5-0.
Domestically, a derby game is usually defined as one between two teams from the same city or neighbouring towns. However, even if, in a European context, we expand that out to mean games between teams from the same country, they are still something of a rare commodity in the European Cup. In the 68 years since the inaugural competition of 1955-56, there have been a total of 43 ties between clubs from the same nation.
AC Milan have lost only one of their previous six Champions League semi-finals at San Siro (4 Wins and 1 Draw), they lost 0-1 against Barcelona in the 2005/06 first leg. In that match, AC Milan conceded the only goal in those six games as the host side, having kept a clean sheet in each of the other five. The Rossoneri have conceded just one goal in their last six Champions League matches, the one conceded in the 93rd minute against Napoli in the last round.
AC Milan is currently in the 5th in the Italian Serie A league. With 34 matches played they have won 17, lost seven and drew ten. They have 61 points on the boards.
Whereas, Inter Milan is in the 4th position in the league. Having played 34 matches, they won 20, lost 11 and drew three. They have accumulated 43 points, just two above AC Milan. (ANI)
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