Champions, victories and records: Derby d'Italia history

The history of football has been written by some epic matches, legendary champions and mouth-watering games. Inter vs. Juventus means all this and more: it is a fixture that has decided trophies, marked unforgettable moments in the lives of fans and provided emotions that cannot always be explained in words. The Nerazzurri and Bianconeri have faced each other 247 times in total, 181 in Serie A as a round robin tournament (since 1929/30): the head-to-head record sees Juventus in the lead with 87 wins, 46 draws and 48 successes for Inter. In Milano, the Nerazzurri have collected 36 wins, which bear the name of some of the most representative players in Inter's history. Meazza, Boninsegna, Altobelli, Matthäus, Ronaldo: all the brightest stars in the Nerazzurri's history have left their mark on the legend that is the Derby d'Italia.

MEAZZA AND HIS GOALSCORING RECORD

Giuseppe Meazza is Inter's leading goalscorer in the club's history: the legendary striker scored 284 goals in the Nerazzurri jersey. 12 of these came against Juventus: Meazza is the player to have scored the most goals ever in matches against the Bianconeri. In the 1935/36 season, "Peppino" scored a hat-trick which - together with Ernesto Mascheroni's goal - gave Inter a 4-0 win over Juventus, a crushing victory on a rainy day which was described, as follows, by the Corriere della Sera newspaper on 18 November 1935: "The team played really well, with a superior technical level, managing to be a model of excellence, a model of excellence in finishing too, even in the mud. They had a superb control of the ball, a great understanding between players and the lines, and clear and incisive high up the pitch".

CAPTAINS AND SYMBOLS: ZANETTI AND FACCHETTI

Out of the many players who have graced the field of play in the history of the Derby d'Italia, there are two who have inextricably linked their names to Inter and this match: Javier Zanetti and Giacinto Facchetti have appeared the most number of times against Juventus: 39 for the first and 38 for the second (plus an appearance in the 1971 Picchi Trophy, a match in which he also scored a goal). The historic Nerazzurri number 3 scored three times against the Bianconeri: in addition to a goal in the Coppa Italia, Facchetti scored a brace in the 1965/66 league fixture, described as such by the Corriere: "With Facchetti, a defender by trade but a liking to being an attacker, Inter at times play with twelve men."

In the photo: Zanetti after Juventus 1-3 Inter (Milito, Milito, Palacio) from the 2012/13 season and Facchetti in action in Inter 1-0 Juventus (Oriali), 1976/77 Coppa Italia.

GREAT GOALSCORING CENTRE-FORWARDS

Bonimba, Spillo, Kalle: three names that have remained in the hearts of all Nerazzurri fans, three great strikers who left their mark on the Derby d'Italia. A successful year: the 1970/71 season saw Inter's 11th Scudetto, won after an extraordinary comeback where they were seven points behind top spot after seven games. It was a well-planned fightback, with a run of results to respect; a journey that included Inter vs. Juventus on 27 December 1970: on a very cold winter afternoon, the Nerazzurri won 2-0 thanks to goals from Corso and Boninsegna, who at the end of the year would be Serie A's top scorer with 24 goals. The Scudetto would eventually go to the Nerazzurri. Success against Juventus and league titles won by Inter was repeated in the 1979/80 season. Nineteen years later, another great striker led Inter: Alessandro Altobelli, the second-highest scorer in Nerazzurri history, was the star of the Derby d'Italia: Spillo scored a hat-trick, and Muraro got the other in a 4-0 win that allowed Inter to run away at the top and not be caught by Juventus, who ended up in second place. In the 1984/85 season, the match ended with the exact same result: 4-0 for Inter, with a brace from Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and goals from Ferri and Collovati.

BALLON D'OR AND DERBY D'ITALIA

Lothar Matthäus and Ronaldo: two of the greatest of all time, champions who won the Ballon d'Or wearing the Nerazzurri jersey, two legends who celebrated the prestigious award at the Derby d'Italia. Number 10, a complete midfielder and a driving force behind a record-breaking Inter: Matthäus won the Ballon d'Or in 1990, after winning the 1990 World Cup in Italy with West Germany. Lothar showed the award to the Nerazzurri fans at San Siro on 10 March 1991, before Inter vs. Juventus kicked off, which ended 2-0 with a goal scored by the German himself (the second by Battistini). 4 January 1998: on a cold winter Sunday, Inter were ready to return to action after the Christmas break. The Nerazzurri had an eagerly awaited showdown with Juventus: once again, the match with the Bianconeri saw Ballon d'Or celebrations for an Inter fan prior to kick-off. This time it was Luis Nazario de Lima, known to us all as Ronaldo, the Fenomeno, who on that very evening provided the vital assist for the only goal of the game, scored by Youri Djorkaeff.

THE EARLY 2000S

At the beginning of the new century, Inter and Juventus battled out hard-fought matches full of goals: in the 2001/02 season, the match at San Siro ended 2-2 with an outstanding brace by Clarence Seedorf, the Dutchman's second goal coming in second-half added time. This was repeated the following year, when Inter equalized in the 95th minute: Recoba's corner caused a wild melee in the box, with Francesco Toldo also involved. The goalkeeper's touch was decisive, even if the goal was awarded to Vieri, who got the last touch on the ball, giving Inter a last-gasp equaliser. However, in 2003/04 season, the Nerazzurri returned to winning ways: Inter took the lead early on thanks to Martins' goal, before conceding an equalier and then retaking the lead again through Vieri and Stankovic. Di Vaio's goal gave Inter a scare in the closing stages, but they held on to run out 3-2 winners.

INTER'S YEAR: THE SUCCESSES OF 2010

In the 2009/10 season, Inter won the treble, beating Juventus twice at San Siro. The first success came in January, in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia, in a single knockout game: the Bianconeri took the lead through Diego, but in the second half Inter fought back thanks to goals from Lucio and Mario Balotelli. A league fixture was played on 16 April: four days before the first leg of the semi-final against Barcelona, Inter had to win to stay in touch with Roma, who had gone top of the table. The match was a tight and edgy affair, and some magic was needed: up stepped Maicon scoring one of the best goals in Nerazzurri history, volleying into the net from the edge of box. Eto'o's goal later put the game to bed.

THE 2016 AND 2021 WINS

Inter's last two successes against Juventus at San Siro in the league came in two very different matches. At the start of the 2016/17 season, Inter made an astonishing comeback to defeat Juventus in an emotional Derby d'Italia clash: the Bianconeri took the lead in the 67th minute through Lichtsteiner, but the Nerazzurri replied immediately. Within two minutes, Inter had equalised through Mauro Icardi, before Ivan Perisic then scored the winner to make it 2-1 with an masterful header. In the 2020/21 season in Serie A, the Nerazzurri put in a dominating display, thanks also to an outstanding performance by Nicolò Barella: an assist, a goal and a complete performance, in what was an intense battle. In the 13th minute, the midfielder's cross was inch-perfect for Arturo Vidal's header, the former Juventus player, that broke the deadlock. In the second half, the Nerazzurri fans learned for the first time about the Bastoni-Barella chemistry: the defender's long ball picked out Nicolò, who broke beyond the Juventus defence and grabbed the game's second goal to make it 2-0, providing Inter with another Derby d'Italia victory.