The Derby della Madonnina in the final

The stage is set at the Al-Awwal Park Stadium in Riyadh, which will host the EA SPORTS FC Supercup Final between Inter and AC Milan tonight at 20:00 CET. The Nerazzurri, reigning Italian champions, and the Rossoneri, runners-up in last season's Serie A, arrive at the big finale after winning their respective semi-finals against Atalanta and Juventus. Inter dream of writing history in the competition by becoming the first club to win the Super Cup four times in a row. Moreover, if they win, the Nerazzurri would join Juve at the top of the roll of honour at nine. AC Milan, on the other hand, will want a rematch of the final two years ago, lost to their city rivals also in Riyadh, and, ****should they succeed, they would also write the history of the tournament, becoming the first team to lift the cup as runners-up in the league, after being the first to win the trophy as a defeated Coppa Italia finalist in 2016. In the league, Inter are in hot pursuit of leaders Napoli, waiting for their two matches in hand that could guarantee them the top of the league. AC Milan, currently eighth in the standings, are in a similar situation, aiming to make the most of the postponed matches to shorten the gap to fourth-placed Lazio. For both teams, however, it is time to dedicate themselves 100% to the conquest of the first trophy of the season and therefore concentrate all their energies on this final.

HISTORY OF THE EVENT

The Milan derby has been played twice in the Supercoppa Italiana, with one win for each team: the first in favour of AC Milan (2-1 on 6 August 2011 in Beijing, goals from Ibrahimovic and Boateng, and Sneijder) and the second for Inter (3-0 on 18 January 2023 in Riyadh, goals from Dimarco, Dzeko and Lautaro Martínez). Inter have won all of the last three editions of the Supercoppa Italiana and could become the first team in history to lift the trophy in four consecutive seasons (surpassing AC Milan, who remained at three, between 1992 and 1994); in general, the Nerazzurri could win the trophy for the ninth time in the history of the tournament, thus equalling Juventus' record. Considering only cup finals, AC Milan have won two of their three matches against Inter: before their success in the Supercoppa Italiana in 2011, the Rossoneri had beaten the Nerazzurri in the Coppa Italia final on 3 July 1977 (2-0). AC Milan - who have not triumphed in the Supercoppa Italiana since 23 December 2016 (a penalty shoot-out against Juventus) - have lost their last two finals in the competition and have only once lost three consecutive Supercoppa Italiana finals, between 1996 and 2003.

BACKGROUND

After winning six consecutive derbies against AC Milan between all competitions (an all-time record of wins in a row for the Nerazzurri against the Diavolo) with an overall score of 14-2, Inter lost their last match against the Rossoneri, in the first leg of the current season (1-2, 22 September 2024). After the victory in the last derby against Inter, AC Milan could beat the Nerazzurri for two matches in a row between all competitions for the first time since 2010-2011: a series of three, ending with a success in the final of the Supercoppa Italiana; since then, the Diavolo have not beaten Inter more than once. Inter have scored in nine official matches in a row against AC Milan (since the 0-0 draw in the first leg of the 2021/22 Coppa Italia semi-final, which was also the last draw between the two teams) and they have not had 10 consecutive scoring derbies since 1997 (12).

FUN FACTS

Inter have won their last five matches without conceding a goal between all competitions and only once in their history have they achieved more consecutive clean sheets (since 1929/30): six, between November and December 2007, with Roberto Mancini at the helm. It has been more than 10 years since AC Milan won their first two official matches under a new coach: the last time was at the start of Filippo Inzaghi's tenure, between August and September 2014.

COACHES

In the event of a win, Simone Inzaghi would equal Helenio Herrera and Roberto Mancini's record as the most successful coach in Inter's history (seven trophies for all) since the birth of the one-round Serie A (since 1929/30); the coach from Piacenza has so far won six trophies with the Nerazzurri: one Scudetto (2023/24), two Coppe Italia (2021/22 and 2022/23) and three Supercoppe Italiane (2021, 2022 and 2023). Furthermore, with a victory, Simone Inzaghi would equal Helenio Herrera and Árpád Weisz's 2nd place record in the list of coaches with the most successes in the history of the Milan derby, reaching eight victories in all competitions, behind only Carlo Ancelotti (10). Sérgio Conceição ****could become the first foreign coach to win a trophy with AC Milan since Nils Liedholm in 1978/79 (a Scudetto).

FOOTBALLERS

Lautaro Martínez ****has scored three goals with Inter in the Supercoppa Italiana (on par with Samuel Eto'o), and if he scores, he would thus become the Nerazzurri's all-time top scorer in the competition. Only Paulo Dybala (four) has scored more goals in the history of the tournament. Christian Pulisic could become the second player to score more than one goal with AC Milan in a single Supercoppa Italiana, after Andriy Shevchenko on 21 August 2004 (a hat-trick against Lazio).

MATCH INFO

Disqualified: none Booked: none

REFEREE

Sozza (Carbone-Tegoni), IV: Fabbri, VAR: Marini, AVAR: Doveri (Photo Getty Images)