MILAN – We're just 12 hours away from kick-off in the 192nd derby between AC Milan and Inter since the introduction of a single national league in 1929/30. In the 93 matches with the Rossoneri as the home side, there have been 35 Nerazzurri wins, 32 AC Milan victories and 26 draws.
As we learn from Football Data's statistics, since the start of the national Serie A championship, the Derby della Madonnina has been contested 26 times in October (24 in the league, 2 in the Coppa Italia) with 6 victories for AC Milan, 8 draws and 12 Inter wins. The last meeting between these two sides in the 10th month of the year came in a Serie A clash on 28 October 2006, Inter emerging as 3-4 away winners. Roberto Mancini's side raced into a 0-3 lead thanks to Crespo (17), Stankovic (22) and Ibrahimovic (47) before Seedorf pulled one back (50); after Materazzi had added a fourth for Inter (69), Gilardino (76) and Kakà (90) attempted to complete a late comeback for the Rossoneri.
AC Milan's last October success dates back to 2003 (October 5, 1-3 with Inter at home), while the Rossoneri have to delve into the 1980s to find their last home win in this month: 2-1 on 28 October 1984 (Serie A). The most recent draw – in any month – was on 24 October 2004: AC Milan 0-0 Inter.
The Rossoneri are the team with the fewest different goalscorers in Serie A this term: just two, El Shaarawy and Pazzini, whereas Cassano, Coutinho, Milito, Palacio, Pereira and Sneijder have all been on target for Inter.
Andrea Stramaccioni's team come into this fixture on the back of six consecutive away wins, obtained against Hajduk Split and Vaslui in the Europa League (0-3 and 0-2 respectively), Pescara, Torino and Chievo Verona in Serie A (a 0-3 followed by two 0-2s) and last Thursday's 1-3 victory against Neftchi Baku (Europa League). The Nerazzurri last failed to plunder all three points away from the Meazza in the final match of last season: a 3-1 Serie A defeat to Lazio on 13 May. If they manage to add a 7th straight away win this evening, to find a longer winning streak on the road you would have to go back to December 2006-March 2007, when they notched up nine back-to-back away wins (Serie A and Coppa Italia).
Massimiliano Allegri was beaten by Andrea Stramaccioni in the only previous meeting between these two coaches: Inter 4-2 AC Milan on 6 May 2012. Allegri is facing Inter for the 10th time in his career as a manager with results perfectly even: four wins for the current Rossoneri coach, one draw and four Nerazzurri triumphs.
Tonight's referee is Paolo Valeri from the refereeing section of Rome. With Mr Valeri in charge, Inter have collected 2 wins, 5 draws and 2 defeats.
