Milan Derby Set To Break Italian Football Record

When Inter Milan and AC Milan kick off on Sunday evening in one of Europe's biggest derbies they will break an impressive Italian football record, without even needing to kick the ball once.

There's nothing quite like a derby, they are what football is all about. From the rivalry and the bragging rights to the atmosphere local derbies create the type of competition that we all love.

Of course they can end up creating a bit of a dud like the north west derby between Liverpool and Manchester United did on Saturday but hopefully the two Milan side's close proximity will give it something that the Premier League's big game did not.

_{Couldn't really find any pictures of highlights so here's Philippe Coutinho on the ball. Image: PA}

Sunday evening is a big game for both sides as Inter look to pull away from Lazio and Juventus who are level on points with them and close the gap on Napoli as they try to re-establish themselves as title contenders whilst Milan can't afford to drop further behind in the battle for Champions League places.

And the clubs will actually break a record for the highest gate receipts at an Italian football match with the San Siro set to be a sell-out:

The record was already held by Inter anyway with the Nerazzurri's 0-0 draw in a different type of derby, the Derby d'Italia against Juventus, in October 2015 the previous record.

The figure is level with the gate receipts that Real Madrid generate on average for their games at the Bernabeu whilst Arsenal are second on the list according to UEFA's statistics.

_{Europe's top average gate receipts, Image: PA}

Inter head into the match in better form having won five of their last six games, drawing the other, whilst Milan have lost their previous two games, and one further in the last six.

Both sides are now owned by Chinese consortiums who have pumped money into the clubs in order to challenge again for the Serie A title. The eyes of Milan and the world will be watching.

Topics: Serie A, AC Milan, Italy, Inter Milan

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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