18:30 we have a chinotto at a charming little bar, munching on some appetizers …
20:15 we sit down on our appointed seats in the orange sector, all around us friendly smiling families. one of the mythic games in calcio, the milan derby between ac milan and inter, is about to start. we’re in san siro, the giuseppe meazza stadium – around us more than 80’000 other people.
everybody got here early. the ultras are stageing their perfectly choreographed cheering rituals. what have they invented today?
the milan lion’s are in the south end, the inter boys in the north end of the stadium. emotion. we sit in the middle of the second annello orange, inter fans all around us, but we re not here for inter nor milan ac. we’re here for the game. we don’t take sides. we soke it in. we shake our heads in disbelief.
the milan ultras consist of 2 rivalising groups. there deviding problem is politics. the right wing fans are usually down in the lower tier, the left wing fans are in the second ring. they both love the same club, but they hate eachother, if a right wing fan goes into the wrong sector he gets a beating. and vis versa. the have an arrangement – a truce of sorts. this happens far away from where we are sitting .
20:30 the game starts … we witness a brilliant fast-paced game. inter wins 3:2 by a last minute goal from gabriel batistuta, who came on for the last 10 minutes of the game …