Derby Della Madonnina : The Beautiful Chaos

Milan. Home to two of the world's most elite clubs. Internazionale Milano, and AC Milan. The rivalry of these two clubs have prolonged over a 100 years. This rivalry isn't just about who's the best among the two, it's about two sets of people. AC Milan is known to be the people's club. It's also older of the two. AC Milan is known for it's availability towards the commoners of Milan. While Inter Milan is relatively new. And richer from the beginning. They were literally talked as the rich man's club. As most of it fans were of the higher state of society while AC having the working class people's love. So the rivalry grew. And both clubs today are neck and neck to each other in terms of domestic success. Inter just having the nod over Milan by winning one more scudetto. But on the European stages, the tables turn. Milan having 7 European titles completely dwarves that number of Inter.

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So today's story is about another of these Milan derbies. That too in the champions league. It's not very usual that two city rivals face each other in the champions league. So the excitement was off the roof. The day was April the 12th, 2005. And it was the 2nd leg of the UEFA Champions League Quarter final tie which brought the city rivals to the battlefield, against each other. The Derby della Madonnina. This was arguably the biggest club rivalry at the time. Because the two Milan clubs were stacked with superstars and the historical El Classico didn't quite match that stardom during the period.

Milan during the 2000s was a sight to behold. A club football powerhouse with all the generational stars aligned. The kind of stars that haven't been reincarnated into someone else. The kind that is on his way to to be lost in the old pages of history. Kaka, Clarence Seedorf, Andrea Pirlo, Massimo Ambrosini, Rui Costa, Hernan Crespo, Genaro Gattuso, Paolo Maldini, Filippo Inzaghi, Andriy Shevchenko, Alessandro Nesta, Stam, Dida. The list is endless. Huge roster of galactical superstars. This team could arguably beat anyone and literally was the best team in the world back then. But their rivals grow no less. Inter was also brimming with world class talents. Estaban Cambiasso, Dejan Stankovic, Marco Materazzi, Juan Sebastian Veron, Christian Vieri, Adriano, Edgar Davids and Javier Zanetti and many more. They carried the black and blue stripes to the next level.

So before getting into the second leg, a brief look into the first one. Milan won that game 2-0. Yes they had the lead. But the second leg started with a dazzling spark. Inter just won't give in. The fierceness of the game reached the pinnacle at around 70 minutes. The referee deemed a perfectly well worked goal by Estaban Cambiasso to be disallowed. This goal gave the Inter fans hope to cheer. And Inter were just one goal behind from levelling with Milan. So obviously disallowing this goal made a lot of Inter fans angry. But the protest following this mishap was a tide to much. Yes it portrays the emotions and the bond these fans have with the club and the game, but maintaining professionalism is important. Inter fans threw countless flares, water bottles and coins onto the pitch. One of these flares hit Milan keeper Dida. The game was immediately called to a halt. As the situation was completely out of control. The pitch got filled with these stuffs and the atmosphere of the famous San Siro went all red. Flare red. And at this moment the above posted historic photo was taken.

During this halt and when the field police were trying to get a hold of the situation, Marco Materazzi and Rui Costa, they just stood there. The chaos in front of them felt something completely different. Like the world just stopped. The beauty in the chaos. Yes that match was deemed a forfeit by Inter and Milan were handed a 3-0 win, they later on advanced to the final which is another glorious game of football in champions league history. The chaos was harmful yes, but it's moments like these that show us the true ruthless and tough beauty of football.