The date for the upcoming derby between Inter Milan and AC Milan in Serie A will be pushed back to April 22nd.
This according to Italian news outlet Gazzetta.it. The outlet reports that the official announcement of the rescheduling should come tomorrow.
Inter and Milan will play out the second derby match of the season next month.
The city rivals last met in September, in matchday four of the season. That match had ended in a 5-1 win for Inter, who were nominally the home side.
In the second derby of the campaign, by contrast, the Rossoneri will be the nominal home side at the San Siro.
Initially, the fixture had been scheduled for Sunday, April 22nd.
The match had been set to take place in the final kickoff of Sunday evening. That is frequently the slot in which the derby kicks off.
The late Sunday kickoff in Serie A is, more often than not, reserved for the most high-profile match of the weekend.
And matches do not come much more high-profile in Serie A than the derby between Inter and Milan.
Inter Vs AC Milan Serie A Derby To Be Moved To April, Monday 22nd
According to the Gazzetta, however, Milan requested to move the kickoff for the derby in the schedule.
The reason for this request pertained to the Rossoneri’s European schedule.
Whilst Inter crashed out of the Champions League last week, their city rivals moved on to the quarterfinals of the Europa League.
Milan will take on Serie A rivals Roma in the next round.
The two legs of that quarterfinal tie against the Giallorossi will take place on April 11th and April 18th.
Therefore, the Sunday where the derby against Inter had initially been scheduled would come just three days after the second leg of that potentially very taxing tie.
Particularly if the second leg were to theoretically go to extra time, then it would hardly be ideal for the Milan players to go into a match as big as the derby with only three days of rest.
Accordingly, the Rossoneri prefer for the match to be played the next day, on a Monday.
And the Lega Serie A has accepted this request from Milan, the Gazzetta report.
Nothing is official just yet. But tomorrow, the change should be confirmed.
