April 13th 1997 – In his first full-season as the chairman of the club, Massimo Moratti was tasked with the difficult target of turning around the fortunes of the Nerazzurri following a seventh place finish in Serie A.
He appointed English football manager Roy Hodgson towards the end of 1995-96 Serie A campaign and started the new season with him in charge.
The club made a quick turn around by finishing within top three in league standings while also making a run to the UEFA Cup finals, where the team lost on penalties against German club Schalke 04.
On the red and black side of Milan, things were in complete disarray at the start of 1996-97 Serie A season. Fabio Capello had left the club after winning a Scudetto to take over as Real Madrid manager.
The new manager Oscar Tabarez struggled to fill the massive shoes left behind and was replaced before Christmas by legendary manager Arrigo Sacchi.
Despite the return of the Milanese legend to the bench, the Rossoneri only managed to finished eleventh in league and struggled throughout the season.
As round twenty-seven of 1996-97 season came around, the Nerazzurri were preparing to host the Rossoneri in the Derby Della Madonnina.
Inter started the first of the season well, able to keep up with Parma and Juventus for the top spots however, in the second after a series of ties the Nerazzurri were in danger of falling too far behind the league leaders.
Going into the derby weekend, AC Milan were fresh off a six goal demolition at home from league leaders Juventus and had only managed to win three of their previous ten matches.
Starting eleven for the Nerazzurri were Gianluca Pagliuca, Giuseppe Bergomi, Massimo Paganin, Salvatore Fresi, Alessandro Pistone, Paul Ince, Ciriaco Sforza, Youri Djorkaeff, Javier Zanetti, Ivan Zamorano and Maurizio Ganz.
For the visitors, Sacchi had Milan lined up with Sebastiano Rossi, Alessandro Costacurta, Pietro Vierchowood, Francesco Baresi, Crancesco Coco, Stefano Eranio, Marcel Desailly, Zvonimir Boban, Jesper Blomquist, Roberto Baggio and George Weah.
As the saying goes, all prior records and forms go out the window when it comes to a heated derby encounter, both teams focused on maintaining their composure and methodically built up attacking moves.
George Weah’s pace was causing Inter defense problems from the start. Baggio dropping deeper and playing perfect passes over the top to find Weah’s runs raised early alarm bells early.
Both team’s early scoring opportunities came from counter-attacking situations. Both sides played a physical brand of football, not giving an inch of space to their oppositions.
As match the went on however, Inter started dominating possession and relied on quick passing sequences around the penalty box to unlock the Rossoneri defenses.
Around the 32nd minute mark, Maurizio Ganz was brought down inside the penalty box by Franco Baresi. Youri Dorjaeff comfortably converted the penalty to give Inter an early lead.
Eager to get back to their winning ways, Milan pressed on looking for the equalizer before half-time, however Pagliuca’s heroics kept the clean sheet intact and around the 43 minute mark, Zamorano’s header gave Inter a comfortable 2-0 lead going into half-time.
After play resumed in second half of the match, Sacchi replaced Baresi and Blomqvsit and the Rossonerri pressed forward in numbers looking for the equalizing goals.
However instead of bridging the gap, Rossonerri conceded a third goal to Maurizio Ganz following a counter-attack opportunity around fifty-seven minute mark.
Despite Sacchi and Milan doing everything possible to look for the game tying goals, the Rossonerri continued to struggle in the league and were unable to score.
Roberto Baggio scored a consolation goal in eighty eighth minute to bring the visitors within two goals, however the game ended with an emphatic 3-1 win for the Nerazzurri.
