San Siro is back, the Scala of dreams: 57 thousand voices, the sound of the championship challenge

It was another world. There was a pandemic at the door, but life went by normally and no one in Europe dreamed of walking around with a mask. The Milan derby danced on the world as always, with spotlights, cameras deployed, the stadium sold out. 637 days, or 91 weeks, have passed since the last derby played at San Siro with the public and now that atmosphere is starting to live again. True. There has already been the evening of Inter-Juve to fill the eyes of nostalgics with tears, but this time the show will be even closer to that of the past. Because the match against Juve has always been in Inter’s veins, but the derby is something else. The last shot that was experienced with the people, the songs and the choreographies was on 9 February 2020. It ended 4-2 for Inter in comeback, with Brozovic driving. With that success, Inter hooked Juve at the top of the table. If they want to rely on superstition, Milan can remember that it was Inter-Milan: this time an inverted pitch and a predominantly Rossoneri cheering.

Obviously Pioli was already on the bench, there was Calhanoglu with the Milan shirt, there was Rebic (who returned yesterday) who scored the first goal, there was Ibrahimovic, there was Lukaku and there was Barella. Above all, there were 75 thousand 817 spectators for a box office of five million and 700 thousand. This time, due to Covid and its after-effects, it will not be possible to exceed 57 thousand, a number that defines the full house of the Milanese plant with the capacity currently permitted (75 percent). 57 thousand people who will still be enough to bring back an air of celebration. The Milan of football continues to live good times: now there is the Rossoneri club ahead of seven points, the two teams love to offer attacking football and the show seems assured. “It is a match between the two best attacks in the league, between two teams that create many scoring chances,” said the host coach, Stefano Pioli. “Precisely for this reason, paradoxically, defending well will be decisive”. The wall of Milan is ready and the wall of the Rossoneri fans is ready too, who will logically be in the majority. But the derby has an atmosphere that goes beyond the numerical data: there will be fans from 135 countries, most of the foreigners come from Switzerland, France and Germany, but also from Sweden, Israel, Great Britain and the United States. The old San Siro, destined for retirement within a few years, will be able to experience another gala evening. La Scala del calcio, as they call it, and there will be a reason. The players on the pitch will be filmed by cameras from 150 countries. Even now that AC Milan remains far from the European splendors of the past, the Milan derby retains its charm. The American ownership of AC Milan and the Chinese one of Inter have focused and are focusing a lot on world expansion through social media: the sponsors also attract followers and stories, but this time there will be 57,000 people in flesh and blood at San Siro . Things from the other world. That of a near yet distant time.

The atmosphere of the stadium has already returned to that of the time even in the Champions League matches, as well as of course in Inter-Juve, and many VIP fans will be in the stands to see the effect that makes you rediscover the sensations of a couple of years ago. The team of former footballers is numerous: the double ex Vieri, Matri, Oddo, Tassotti who is waiting to return to work with Shevchenko at Genoa, Favalli, Zaccardo, Borriello, Serginho, now more than adopted Milanese, Patrick Kluivert, who has passed briefly at Milan (one season) but remained fond of him, and many other former players.

But there will not be only the old players of the ball to enjoy the evening: for example, the tennis players Lorenzo Musetti and Fabio Fognini are announced in the stands. Musetti will be the Italian star of Next Gen, the youth master who begins on Tuesday at the Palalido: he is lukewarm Juventus, but he did not want to miss the opportunity for a great show. More involved instead Fognini, who is a passionate Inter fan. The spectator is interested in the former tennis phenomenon Boris Becker, while the world of entertainment will be represented among others by Pio and Amedeo and by Ghali, a great Rossoneri fan. In the stands with the children there will then be the chef Carlo Cracco, a supporter of Milan, and there will be the couple formed by the former swimmer Filippo Magnini, an Inter player, and his wife, showgirl Giorgia Palmas, a Milan player: a derby in the derby. Many representatives from the world of politics and finance are also expected, but what matters most, and not only for the Rossoneri club’s coffers, is that so many people return to San Siro. Milan first, Inter third: after only 12 days nobody seems to want to give importance to the ranking, but Milan dreams of sending Inter to minus ten. And who knows what kind of welcome the public will give to Calhanoglu, who passed to the other side of Milan a few months ago. Indifference, deafening whistles like those that touched, say, Ibrahimovic? The public remains unpredictable, the only certain thing is that any noise after so much silence will be music for the protagonists on the pitch and in the stands. Protagonists again, too.