Inter and Juventus, the Biscione and the Vecchia Signora, Milan and Turin: on this axis – football, economic, cultural – (a large) part of the history of Italian football has been written, in the name of a rivalry that has never stopped to burn.
It’s the Italian Derby
Happy definition born from the pen of Gianni Brera who in 1967 wanted to somehow sculpt in stone what is to all intents and purposes the most heated rivalry in our football, a dispute which is renewed with each new representation and at the same time – as it is inevitable – brings with it the ordeal of all ancient battles. The two clubs, and the two families of reference (Agnelli vs Moratti) have always courted Power, they have often managed it, other times only cajoled it, and in any case there has always been contiguity with the exercise of command.
The scandal match
June 10, 1961. The championship is over, even if it isn’t over. The president of Inter Angelo Moratti, Massimo’s father, after a poisonous back and forth with the FIGC and Juventus for a suspended match, won and then lost by default, then postponed when everything is already decided, is so furious as to announce that The kids from the Berretti team will be on the pitch in Turin. It ends 9-1 for Juventus, a massacre. In the end Umberto Agnelli gives the Inter boys a silver key ring with the Juventus crest. Inter scored the goal, from a penalty, displacing Mattrel, an 18 year old boy making his debut in Serie A, his name is Sandro Mazzola, he will lead the way.
Poisons and cardboard championships: the Calciopoli era
Wiretaps, summonses (in court), venom and gall, suspicions, direct or presumed responsibilities, insults and rudeness, registrations for prescriptions. They’re all right, of course. Calciopoli, that ugly mess. Two championships revoked for Juventus, one automatically awarded to Inter. Comment from Massimo Moratti: “It’s the scudetto of the honest”, Juventus’ reply: “Yours is the cardboard scudetto”.
Business and intrigue in the transfer market
1976: Inter gets rid of Boninsegna (they say: he’s old, he’s 33) and offers him to Juve in exchange for the 28-year-old Anastasi. Vox populi: Inter did the deal. Mistake. Pietruzzo declines towards the sunset, Boninsegna wins two championships at Juve. Further on: Altobelli leaving Inter (accused of treason) for Juve, Trapattoni and Lippi making the Turin-Milan-Turin return trip, Marotta changing his shirt.
The shoulder on the Phenomenon
27 April 1998, Juventus-Inter, championship play-off given that the Bianconeri are +1 on the Nerazzurri. It’s the day of Iuliano’s well-known push against Ronaldo the Phenomenon. Referee Ceccarini from Livorno does not award the penalty. Those of Inter are devaluing. Simoni shouts at Ceccarini the most famous “Shame on you, shame on you” in Italian football, Pagliuca even punches him in the ribs, Ronaldo the Phenomenon confesses that he feels robbed. Luciano Moggi laughs. Juventus-Inter 1-0, scudetto on ice.
Temptations rejected
Sandro Mazzola said that in the 70s Gianni Agnelli offered him a doubled salary and a Fiat dealership to move to Juventus. Mazzola took a day to reflect. He talked about it in his family. Mother Emilia told him: “Valentino Mazzola’s son, captain of Grande Torino, cannot play for Juventus.” It was what Sandro wanted to hear. He called Gianni Agnelli: “Thank you Lawyer, but I’m staying at Inter.”
Herrera’s slogans, Allegri’s joke
Two coaches, two jokes at different times to reiterate the sideways glances between Inter and Juventus. Helenio Herrera, the magician who led the Great Inter in the 60s, in the changing rooms, among others, put up signs of this type: “”Juventus=Fiat. Fiat=Power”. And Max Allegri, as Juventus coach, recently, on the eve of yet another match, said that facing Inter was like “playing cops and robbers”: all hell broke loose on social media.
Conte’s (hidden) championships
He said it: Antonio Conte only supports Antonio Conte. However: 13 years as a footballer at Juve plus 3 with 3 championships as a coach mark him as black and white. In his two-year period as coach of Inter, he won a Scudetto. Curiosity: when his move to the Nerazzurri club was made official in 2019, in the official press release – reeling off Conte’s career – Inter forgot (ahem ahem) to mention the championships won with Juventus. A magic from Silvan, no less.
Le Roi disputed
Michel Platini made a trial with Inter in Appiano Gentile in 1979. Legend has it that Bersellini said: “She has a bride’s butt.” More likely: there were doubts about his physical condition (it turned out he had a bad knee), but above all Inter couldn’t register him (borders closed) and when they tried again (despite an option) it was too late. It was in fact the summer of 1982 when Juventus embellished a very strong team – there were the fresh world champions – with the Polish Zibì Boniek and, indeed, Le Roi Michel.
The two lawyers
When Ernesto Pellegrini bought Inter (1984) the Lawyer (with a capital letter) Gianni Agnelli, turning to Boniperti, commented: “Giampiero, have you heard? Our chef has taken Inter.” Pellegrini, in fact, had a catering company that (also) served the Fiat canteen. The lawyer (with a lowercase letter) Peppino Prisco, among the many jokes, loved to remember this: “If I shake hands with a Milan fan I wash it, if I shake hands with a Juventus player I count my fingers.”
#InterJuventus #reasons #hottest #match #Italy
–
