Crotone v Inter, a tale of "firsts"

MILAN

- On Sunday 9 April, in Week 31 of Serie A 2016/17, Inter will make their first appearance at Crotone's Stadio Ezio Scida.

It's an unprecedented venue for a meeting which had its first chapter five months ago in the reverse fixture at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. It was an evening of "firsts". On the one hand, the side from Calabria got their first taste of the magical Scala del Calcio, while Inter Primavera coach Stefano Vecchi made his top-flight managerial bow. The match ended in victory for the Nerazzurri, courtesy of a brace from Mauro Icardi and an Ivan Perisic strike.

Inter have, however, played in Calabria before. On 17 October 1971, Invernizzi took a team south to Catanzaro's Stadio Comunale and the Nerazzurri beat the hosts 2-0 thanks to goals from Bedin and Facchetti. Twenty-eight years later, a solitary Alvaro Recoba strike allowed Inter to come away with the points in their first Serie A meeting with Reggina at the Granillo.

The Nerazzurri faced new opposition on two occasions last season. Stevan Jovetic scored twice in their Week 2 victory against Carpi at Modena's Stadio Braglia, while Brozovic, Murillo, Icardi and Jovetic all found the net as Inter hit four at home to Frosinone.

You have to go as far back as 1929/30, meanwhile, to find the Nerazzurri's first big games in Serie A. First up it was AC Milan who lost to Arpad Weisz's boys on 10 November 1929 as the league's top scorer Meazza struck the winner. Juventus then came unstuck by the same scoreline (2-1), as Ambrosiana took the points from Turin's Stadio di Corso Marsiglia.

It was a memorable year for Inter fans as, thanks to those victories (which they repeated in the second half of the campaign), they celebrated their third league title.