Calm before derby storm for Inter as dark underbelly of fans revealed

Published on: 13/09/2024 – 02:31Altered: 13/09/2024 – 02:30

3 minutes

Italian champions Inter face Monza hoping to maintain their lead in the league, but manager Simone Inzaghi is likely to rest a number of his stars ahead of the much tougher trip to Manchester City in Europe’s premier club competition.

The 2023 final revenge match against City on Wednesday is the biggest of Inter’s revamped eight-match competition and comes a few days before the Milan derby.

Inzaghi’s team won the Scudetto last season with five games to spare, beating AC Milan. Inzaghi wants all his first-choice players fit for City and next weekend, which is a great opportunity to inflict further pain on their local rivals.

Inter are top of Serie A on goals scored, ahead of Juventus, who visit Empoli on Saturday night, before hosting Milan Venezia at the San Siro. Inter are also level on seven points with Torino and Udinese.

Milan are already five points behind Inter and must also take into account the visit of Liverpool on Tuesday. A poor start has tested the fans’ faith in new manager Paulo Fonseca.

Tammy Abraham will play his first game for Milan, along with his former Chelsea team-mates Fikayo Tomori and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, while Alvaro Morata recovers from a thigh injury sustained on the opening day of the season.

Meanwhile, Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez should return to Milan’s starting lineup after being sacked at Lazio, and hopefully they’ll both be ready to play against Venice and Liverpool.

While everything looks rosy for Inter on the pitch, the same cannot be said in the stands, after the alleged heir to a powerful crime family was murdered by one of the leaders of the club’s hardcore “ultras”.

Andrea Beretta, who himself had a long criminal record, stabbed Antonio Bellocco to death last week during a brawl outside a boxing gym on the outskirts of Milan.

Bellocco’s death came as a shock, as his status within the ‘Ndrangheta mafia was reportedly high, and the Beretta family was placed under special surveillance by the police for fear of violent reprisals.

Fears were also raised that mafia bosses were infiltrating ultra groups, attracted by the income that some organisations would generate from illegal activities ranging from mailing cards to drug trafficking.

Beretta took a starring role in the Curva Nord section of San Siro after career criminal Vittorio Boiocchi was shot dead outside his home in October 2022.

At the time of his murder at the age of 69, Italian media reported extensively that Boiocchi had boasted in wiretapped conversations that he earned 80,000 euros a month as an ultra leader.

Player to watch: Ademola Lookman

Lookman, who secured a historic Europa League victory with a hat-trick last season, is yet to play for Atalanta this season after pushing for a summer move to Paris Saint-Germain.

The Nigerian forward was on the bench when Atalanta suffered a drubbing at Internazionale before the international break, however, and is likely to play Fiorentina on Sunday in his team’s first home game of the season as the renovation of the Gewiss Stadium nears completion.

And with Arsenal travelling to Bergamo on Thursday for the Champions League, manager Gian Piero Gasperini will need all his firepower for two crucial games in front of an expectant home crowd.

Match Schedule (times GMT)

Saturday

Como vs Bologna (1300), Empoli vs Juventus (1600), AC Milan vs Venezia (1845)

Sunday

Genoa vs Roma (1030), Atalanta vs Fiorentina, Torino vs Lecce (1300), Cagliari vs Napoli (1600), Monza vs Inter Milan (1845)

Monday

Parma vs Udinese (1630), Lazio vs Verona (1845)

© 2024 AFP