Inter Milan vs Napoli

Weather-wise 2011 has not started well here. It's been damp and wet and the past two days a blanket of cloud and fog has covered the coast. Nancy urged me to stay put but hardwired as I am, I decide to jump in the car and head to Milan to watch Inter Milan host Napoli at San Siro stadium in what should be a great match. Inter, last year's Seria A champs, Champions League winners and world club champs started poorly this year but have been on a tear of late. With a win tonight Napoli can keep pace with the leaders AC Milan and take command of second place with Juventus having lost earlier in the day. 


Its January 6th, the Epiphany, the day the friendly Italian witch, La Befana, brings Italian kids gifts and a national holiday in Italy. A full slate of Seria A games are being played and I'm hoping La Befana brings a bucket of goals and a big win for the visiting Neopolitans. Its a three and a half hour drive to Milan and having never watched a match in Italy, I couldn't pass this one up no matter how crazy Nancy thinks I am. Unfortunately Simona and Maddy have school so Nancy and the girls stayed in Nice and I am on my own. 

I arrive at the stadium which is just on the outskirts of Milan in the middle of nowhere 3 hours before kick-off, buy my ticket at the box office and join 50, 60 thousand 'friends' for a good-old fashioned tailgate party, Italian style. Food vendors of every kind along with vendors of souvenirs, team jerseys, scarves, hats and other paraphenalia are everywhere. I grab myself a pannino, hot chestnuts and a drink and befriend a mixed group of fans who are debating how this game will end. Just like every passionate Canadian hockey fan, these fans are all experts on every aspect of soccer endlessly debating every last detail. There are busloads of people, predominantly Inter fans, streaming in from as far south as Naples. With temperatures just above freezing and a light mist in the air, describing the atmosphere as electrifying would be an exaggeration as excited as I am to be here. I came fully prepared with ski gloves, hat and layered up and yet I could barely feel my toes after a few hours. 

There are no bad seats in San Siro with excellent sightlines of the pitch no matter where one sits. Sitting in the second level towards one end of the field I have a spectacular view and I'm entertained all night by the Inter fans behind one of the goals who sing and chant derisively at the Neopolitans all game long. Not yet 5 minutes in and the stadium explodes in cheers as the home side finds the visitors napping and take the early lead. "What a great start" I say to the Inter fan next to me explaining that this should put the offensively minded young Napoli team on the attack in search of the equalizer which finally came just before the half hour mark. I leapt in the air in celebration to the displeasure of most Inter fans around me and was half jokingly told by one guy that I should find myself a new seat somewhere else. 

As always in Italian soccer, a match between a team from the north and a team from the south is far more than a sporting event. Just beneath the surface ready to explode in riots are the social and political tensions between north and south that have existed since Italy's unification in 1861, (incidentally 150 years ago). In many matches, this one being no exception, fans from one city or club are not allowed to buy tickets to a game in a visiting city unless they have been pre-cleared and authorized in an effort to control the idiocy of hooliganism. Once the sole domain of English football, it has now become a far to common part of the Italian soccer scene as the unemployed and politically motivated use the soccer stage to vent their frustrations and anger. Thankfully as a visitor with my Canadian passport I have no problem buying a ticket. 

The teams return to the pitch for the second half as me and my new found Inter buddies deride one another and place friendly wagers on the outcome of this one. As hard as the visitors pressed, the home side put this one away early in the half with a pair of goals before it was 20 minutes old. I spent the rest of the half sucking up the friendly abuses from those around me and enjoying the singing and chanting of the Inter fans as they mocked the visitors with the all familiar ole, ole every time Inter touched the ball. 

Regardless of the outcome, I had a blast and am looking for the next Seria A game to attend.

Sal