The Fashion Capital is on its feet – Derby della Madonnina is up! Neither team started the season as expected, especially AC Milan. Still, the atmosphere around the two teams is completely different. On the one hand, Inter Milan boss Simone Inzaghi has full support and confidence to keep working in peace, while around the Rossoneri, alarms started to ring after collecting only five points in four opening rounds.1 – Simone Inzaghi and Paulo Fonseca are the first two managers in the Serie A history to face each other in both the Rome #derby (four times between 2019/20 and 2020/21) and in the Milan derby. Rivals.#InterMilan pic.twitter.com/r5xDAbFDwW— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) September 22, 2024 Moreover, the eventual defeat tonight (21.45) could mean the end of Paulo Fonseca’s spell at San Siro. Still, at the pre-match press conference, the Portuguese claimed he did not think about the eventual sacking.”I don’t think about that. There’s the match against Inter, I’m concentrating on my work and being ready for tomorrow’s match. The team and the match are the most important things,” stated Fonseca.Arrogant Ibra: ‘I am the lion‘According to sources from Milan, the 51-year-old strategist prepared several changes. Having realized that the 4-2-3-1 formation did not prove fruitful, Fonseca will opt for 4-4-2 instead. The defender Strahinja Pavlovic and the midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek are set to move to the bench, while Tijjani Reijnders and Youssouf Fofana are expected in the starting 11. The two forwards will be Alvaro Morata and Tammy Abraham. Rafael Leao will play behind them, Emerson Royal will replace the injured captain Davide Calabria and the keeper Mike Maignan will return between the posts.High tension, low delivery: Juve and Napoli share spoils and waste our precious timeOn the other hand, Inter held out at Etihad against Man City four days ago (0-0) but also surprisingly drew against Monza last Sunday. Still, the Nerazzurri have six consecutive Derby della Madonnina triumphs (2-1 and 5-1 last season), so both tradition and form are on Inter’s side.Federico Dimarco and Lautaro Martinez will return to the starting lineup, meaning that Carlos Augusto and Mehdi Taremi will probably wait for their chance on the bench. All that gave an additional confidence boost to Inzaghi, who expressed it at the pre-match press conference.”We feel strong against everything and everyone. In the derby, the last ones have been positive but I said at the first question that what has been has been. Now we have to look to the present, to tomorrow’s match which will be extremely difficult for us. I heard Fonseca’s press conference, he said that he found a team that worked very well. The same goes for me, it will be an open and heartfelt derby, I think it’s fair and we’ll see what happens,” Inzaghi said.SERIE A – MATCHDAY 5FridayCagliari – Empoli 0-2 (0-1)/Colombo 33, Esposito 49/Verona – Torino 1-3 (1-2)/Kastanos 12 – Sanabria 10, Zapata 33, Adams 79/SaturdayVenezia – Genoa 2-0 (0-0)/Busio 63, Pohjanpalo 85/Juventus – Napoli 0-0Lecce – Parma 2-2 (1-0)/Dorgu 32, Krstovic 59 – Almquist 90+3, Hainaut 90+5/SundayFiorentina – Lazio 2-1 (0-1)/Gudmundsson 49 pen, 90 pen – Gila 41/16:00: (3.20) Monza (3.30) Bologna (2.45)19:00: (1.65) Roma (3.60) Udinese (5.80)21:45: (1.70) Inter (4.00) Milan (5.40)Monday21:45: (1.45) Atalanta (4.40) Como (7.25)***odds are subject to change***
