Champions League – AC Milan – Inter – “I couldn’t sleep at night”: 2003, the most legendary Euroderby in history

It is an anecdote which has the merit of summarizing, on its own, what a Milan derby in the semi-finals of the Champions League can represent. We are on May 13, 2003, and Inter then receives AC Milan for a return confrontation more tense than ever after the draw of the first leg (0-0). In front of 76,854 spectators, the two teams surrender blow for blow. The Rossoneri, who believe they have done the hardest by opening the scoring in the 45th minute through Andriy Shevchenko, are joined ten minutes from the end after a face to face won by Obafemi Martins.

The incandescence is total. One small goal and Inter flies to the Manchester final. But twice, Christian Abbiati, the goalkeeper of AC Milan, literally saves his people. First on a header from Cordoba, then thanks to a quick exit at the feet of Kallon. Two decisive stops that Adriano Galliani will never see, at least live. Present at Giuseppe Meazza that evening, the historic right arm of Silvio Berlusconi indeed preferred to go to the infirmary. Too much suffering. It is therefore lying on a bed and stuffed with tranquilizers that the Milanese managing director will learn the qualification of his team in the final of the C1.

To fully understand the tension that reigned in the Lombard capital at the time, we interviewed several of our transalpine colleagues. Brief compilation of their memories: “a city paralyzed” during the six days which separated the two matches, “an omnipresent tension” in every street corner, or even the impression of living “hell on earth”. If the two Milan clubs did it again two years later, but this time in the quarter-finals, the first time is never forgotten. Carlo Ancelotti, not really the first comer, remembers for example “the greatest pressure of his life” as a coach, even “more than during the finals”.

“After what I just experienced in the semi-finals, do you really think that this confrontation tends to me?“, he joked in a press conference just before the grand final against Juventus, won on May 28, 2003 on penalties (0-0, 3-2). Gennaro Gattuso, he says in the documentary “Stavamo bene insieme” that he got into the bad habit of”sleep on his sofa” for several years following this crazy week in May. Too much tension, no sleep. Christian Abbiati, his teammate, has also experienced the same thing.

“It was really a difficult weekconfides to us the former goalkeeper, holder of the second leg after Nelson Dida’s injury between the two meetings. I no longer slept at night, and I was not the only one. There was a weird atmosphere in the city, especially after the 0-0 first leg which left the suspense intact. A derby is always special. But the difference with the championship is that if you lose in C1, you can’t go back, you’re eliminated and that’s it. In any case, I was ready to play, I always trained to the maximum and I was quite calm. Once on the field, when I returned to the warm-up, the concentration took precedence over the tension” Came into play on the return, Stéphane Dalmat also remembers a city “and square stress“.

“She was looking forward to such a match, but remained happy to know that one of her two clubs would be in the finalsays the ex-midfielder. Afterwards, a derby remains a derby. The days leading up to the two matches were very stressful. Personally, I was very excited because I was looking forward to playing a Champions League semi-final. It’s not something that happens every day. It was a privilege with one goal, to qualify for the Manchester final.” After two very balanced confrontations, it was therefore AC Milan who emerged as the big winners of the very first “Euroderby” in history.

“My first memory is my hug with Alessandro Nesta and my race under our turn at the end of the matchrecalls Abbiati. Two years later, in 2005, there was again a derby, it’s true, but there was less tension, the two teams had more or less the same squads. The first time was a leap into the unknown.” “Me, my first memory is when I entered the gameDalmatian pursuit. We return with Obafemi Martins with the desire to break everything. We wanted to do everything to turn the game around and show the coach that he was wrong to put us on the bench. Our mission was to do everything to win.”

And it was not far from reaching the end of the match almost “stifling” for Abbiati, who will box in touch the very last ball of the match on the corner of the last chance for Inter. Then Gilles Veissière, whistle in the mouth, will put an end to “six days of enormous tension“, “in the city” et “between two teams made up of great men and great champions who respected each other a lot“, underlines the former Italian international, who speaks of a “single joy“after this qualification.

“We thought we were cursed”

On the Inter side, the disappointment is as great as the cruel outcome. Both in the stands, three-quarters filled by his tifosi, and on the field, where Javier Zanetti, the captain, ends in tears, inconsolable. “It was very hard to digest, we were eliminated without having lost a match but because of the away goal ruleregrets Dalmat. Then this disappointment came a year after the trauma of May 5, 2002, when we lost the title on the last day. We thought we were cursed.”

To heal wounds that are still painful twenty years later, it took time. Lots and lots of time. “We still managed to finish second in the championship despite the disappointment. But we were only waiting for one thing: to go on vacation with the family and start from scratch for the next season. We had to turn the page on this disillusionment with the Euroderby“, confides the Frenchman, who will not miss the 2023 version for anything in the world, while hoping that the final will be different this time. “Unfortunately, I am in the United States for work. But I’ll find a way to see the game, one way or another“, promises Abbiati. Two decades ago, it was the tifosi of Milan who invaded the streets of the city to sing the song “C’è ne andiamo a Manchester” (“We’re going to Manchester”). It remains to be seen who will sing this year’s remake: “C’è ne andiamo ad Istanbul” (“We’re going to Istanbul”).