To football fans, local derbies are always hotly anticipated. Every large city has more than one major team: Glasgow has four, Moscow five, London 13!

But within these cities, those teams consistently paired against each other in senior leagues will be rivals. Deadly rivals. Ask any Inter fan what their favorite aspect of football is, they’ll answer watching their team win.

Their second favorite? Seeing AC Milan and Juventus lose. But what happens if you meet someone on a dating platform you fall for, only to discover, to your horror, that they support the other side? Will this be bad for your relationship?

Origins Of The Rivalry

The first encounter between A.C. Milan and Internazionale took place in 1909, and ever since then, these contests have been titled ‘Derby della Madonnina,’ after a statue of the Virgin Mary on Milan Cathedral, one of the city’s most renowned landmarks.

Both clubs have enjoyed huge success over the years. A.C. Milan has only spent two seasons outside Italy’s top tier (Seria A). Their trophy cabinet is crammed with 18 FIFA and UEFA trophies. Internazionale has won 18 league titles, amongst these championships five-in-a-row from 2006-2010.

A.C. fans delight in having the record for the highest win during a derby, blasting six goals past the hapless Internazionale keeper in 2001. Meanwhile Inter fans boast winning the continental treble in 2010, the only Italian team to do so, during which the Nerazzurri destroyed AC Milan.

Meeting football fans online

One issue with sites like cupid.com isn’t usually a problem at all – the sheer convenience of this method of matchmaking. But because you can get in touch with so many people who are, on the surface, compatible in every way, by the law of averages you are bound to come across someone who happens to have different football loyalties.

Milan derbies attract 80,000 passionate spectators to the stadium shared by both sides – the San Siro. It’s hardly rocket science to predict there’s a reasonable chance of you bumping into someone who has the wrong colored scarf hanging in their closet!

The question you need to ask yourself is this. If you find yourself developing a sense of chemistry with someone who later reveals they are huge fans of ‘the enemy,’ to what extent will you allow this seemingly trifling aspect to cloud your blossoming relationship?

One answer to this might depend on your intentions. Many individuals sign up to dating outlets with no ambition of pursuing a partnership beyond a couple of dates. This will make it easy to gloss over the football rivalry thing. But no one can anticipate how an online connection is going to pan out.

And if you develop a strong rapport towards each other, you could always try convincing your partner to swap sides. After all, players do that all the time. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the lanky Swedish striker, is one of many who have sported both A.C.’s red and black stripes, and Internazionale’s blue and black colors.

However, it’s different with supporters. To be frank, the possibility of an A.C. fan becoming an Internazionale devotee (or vice versa) is pretty much zero.

The solution? Meet half-way, like the A.C. and Internazionale captains shaking hands before a derby, and accept that differences of opinion are what make us human. If you truly love somebody, you’ll have to bite your tongue when your team loses!