Eternal rivals AC Milan and Inter Milan will contest an all-Italian Champions League semifinal when they go head-to-head at San Siro this week, 20 years after they last met in the final four of Europe’s most prestigious club competition.
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This season’s two-legged tie is the first all-Italian Champions League semifinal encounter since that meeting in 2003, in which Milan advanced courtesy of a precious away goal after both legs ended level (0-0, 1-1).
The Rossoneri then faced further Italian opposition, beating Juventus on penalties in one of the competition’s more forgettable Champions League finals which went goalless for 120 minutes before the shootout.
The last time the two clubs squared off in the Champions League came in the 2004-05 quarterfinals. Once again, Milan won a stormy clash in which the second leg was abandoned after 72 mins due to crowd trouble and Milan goalkeeper Dida being hit by a flare thrown from the stands, with UEFA awarding Carlo Ancelotti’s side a default 3-0 win to boost their aggregate victory to 5-0.
The image of Inter’s Marco Materazzi and Milan’s Rui Costa standing together and observing the chaos in front of them remains one of the most iconic in the competition’s history.
