Currently, the two teams in Milan are facing a three-front battle. In the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16, both teams lost by the same score of 0-1. On the Italian Cup front, both have reached the semi-finals. Inter Milan's opponent, Roma, is slightly stronger than AC Milan's opponent Palermo. In terms of league fixtures, Inter Milan has a slight advantage over AC Milan.
AC Milan, apart from the Milan Derby, will also face Juventus and Roma away from home. Additionally, their matches against Palermo, Udinese, and Fiorentina as visitors will be very tough. However, the Rossoneri's home and away performances are balanced this season, not being significantly affected by venue factors. To date, they have only suffered one defeat away from home, which was back in the second round of the league.
No matter what, we cannot predict the future. Current analysis may seem like mere talk. But it is certain that the championship race in Serie A has officially become the Milan Derby. The Milan Derby on April 3, a month from now, will likely greatly influence the归属of the Serie A title this season. Last season, Leonardo led Milan to closely approach Inter, but the Derby defeat prevented the team from ultimately overtaking their rivals. This season, Leonardo once again plays the role of the chaser, but this time his colors have changed from red-black to blue-black. Will he succeed this time? The world will give the answer.
In the early hours of March 1, in a key match of the 27th round of Serie A, league leader AC Milan defeated Napoli 3-0. After winning this game, Milan continued to lead Serie A and expanded their lead to five points. Meanwhile, due to Napoli's loss, Inter Milan managed to surpass them by one point, climbing to second place in the standings. The championship race in Serie A has officially entered Milan Derby time.
Since Napoli traveled to Spain for a Europa League match on Thursday, this key Serie A match of the 27th round was scheduled for Monday evening local time in Italy. Prior to this, Inter Milan had already completed their match of this round and won, passing the pressure onto Milan and Napoli. Regarding the outcome of this key match, Leonardo expressed in an interview after Inter Milan's game what most Inter fans hoped for - a draw. However, in the end, there was no draw, as Napoli collapsed in the second half after holding out for half a game and ultimately lost 0-3. Clearly, participating in a Europa League match could not serve as an excuse for Napoli's failure since head coach Edy Reja Mazzari rested key players such as Cavani, Maggio, and Cannavaro Jr. in that game.
In the remaining 11 league matches, Inter Milan only has to deal with difficult opponents like Milan, Lazio, and Napoli, among which only Napoli is an away game (the two Milanese teams share the same stadium). Apart from Napoli, the difficulty of Inter's away games is generally low, which is advantageous for a team not adept at playing away from home.
Although they did not see their rival Milan drop points, Napoli's loss allowed Inter to surpass them by one point, rising to second place in the standings. This is the first time Inter Milan has occupied the second position after all matches of a round were completed. Due to the heavy debt left by former coach Benitez, even though Leonardo achieved excellent results by securing victories in 10 out of 12 Serie A matches after taking charge, they still had to look up at the standings. Now, however, the only team they need to look up to is AC Milan. After 27 rounds, Inter Milan has theoretically become Milan's biggest rival, and the Serie A championship race has officially entered Milan Derby mode.
As for Napoli, after losing this game, they have basically exited the championship race. In terms of fixtures, their difficulty exceeds that of the Milanese duo. Among the remaining 11 league matches, seven of their opponents are currently in the upper half of the standings, including strong teams like Inter Milan, Juventus, Lazio, and Udinese. However, Napoli also has its own advantage, as they have been eliminated from both the Europa League and the Italian Cup, allowing them to focus solely on the league.