Inter Milan 2-1 Juventus (2016)

Inter Milan 2-1 Juventus
Serie A
Sunday 18th September 2016

When I take the time to reflect on the 1,000+ football games which I've attended, many of them have good reasons as to why they could be considered as 'peak' occasions.

Domestically, the FA Cup Final in 2013 when Wigan somehow beat Man City, probably tops the pile, though having experienced different eras at two or three different teams, there are other games which are well-remembered for many reasons.

At Doncaster, never in my wildest dreams did I expect to live through a time when the club achieved so much success over a five-year period. At Mansfield, never did I expect the club would win the Football Conference so dramatically during my time there - breaking records aplenty whilst doing so. At Newcastle... well, I was just blown away to be there in the first place!

What I certainly never anticipated for one fleeting minute as a young lad growing up on the Belle Vue terraces was that, one day, I'd be well-travelled in Europe and about to embark on a trip to see Inter Milan vs Juventus infront of a capacity-crowd at the San Siro.

Nor did I expect that tickets would be relatively easy to come by, either!

The clash came at the end of a 'mad' week-long road trip across the continent which took in games in Germany (Leverkusen), Netherlands (Feyenoord), Switzerland (Basel), France (Lyon) and another in Italy (Sampdoria). In retrospect, these really were the great days.

Surprisingly, getting a ticket was very straightforward and they seemed to be in good supply. It was simply a case of logging on to Inter Milan's website, going to the online ticket office, creating an account and buying one. They were fairly priced at €35 and there were no problems whatsoever; if anything, getting tickets for Basel, Lyon and Bayer Leverkusen was a lot bloody harder!

For anyone who hasn't been, though the stadium is iconic, it's actually a bit of a crumbling sh*thole by modern day standards.

It's a big, concrete sculpture located on the northern edge of the city (not a million miles from Milan Lampugnano international bus station) and it's upkeep is paid for by the local council who, put simply, don't seem to want to spend great sums on it - thus some parts have fallen into disrepair. The hospitality, corporate streams which provide extra income to so many clubs across Europe simply don't exist here, because money has never been pumped into providing facilities on that side of things.

If either Inter or AC Milan are playing a lesser/mediocre team, certain sections won't even be open and that was the case when I was at the San Siro just seven months earlier to see AC's 1-1 draw with Udinese. Although it was a 'bucket list' moment to just be in such an iconic stadium that day, the game itself was hardly a classic, nor was there even a big attendance as crowds often dwindle well below the available capacity.

Therefore, this 're-visit' promised to be bigger, better and more exciting.

Despite having nearly missed the game due to getting stuck inside one of the horrible toilets in the 'Upper Tier' tower section, it proved to be decent.

Both sets of supporters, wearing colours, mingled quite pleasantly sat next to one another - a rarity for Italy and the attendance was close to capacity. Following a goalless first 45 minutes, Juventus opened the scoring through Stephan Lichsteiner midway through the second half, but they weren't ahead for long as 'bad boy' (and ultimate d*ck head in Italian Football) Mauro Icardi soon levelled.

By this point, sunset had passed and the San Siro was fully illuminated under the floodlights - providing a perfect backdrop for a dramatic match-winner provided by Ivan Perisic on 77 minutes, who capitalised on an some uncharacteristic poor defending by the visitors to give Inter the victory.

Juventus, of course, ultimately won the Serie A title in 2016/17 (as they seem to do every season nowadays) but it was brilliant to be present in such a unique/iconic stadium when they got toppled.

The photos tell the story much better than anything I can write, so feel free to have a look at them below - and if you're ever thinking about going to the San Siro, tickets are generally easier to obtain for AC Milan games than Inter Milan.