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Double acts: Milan rivals meet again with seasons at crossroads

Marco Luzzani / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The first clash of the season, back in September, came just three matches into the Serie A campaign. AC Milan and Inter Milan had just completed a busy summer transfer window, a year without the promise of European competition forcing their hands into the market. There was hope, a feeling this derby mattered once again.

Inter won 1-0, understandably happy, but Milan didn't exactly have anything to fret. The Rossoneri controlled the bulk of possessions and produced 90 minutes of attacking football that satisfied supporters, while Inter made it three wins in three games on the way to first place. Both parties came away with something.

The feeling is a lot more serious now. Twenty-one matches in, Milan and Inter cannot afford a slip-up. Now is no longer the time for encouraging results; only the results themselves will do. Milan is trying to prove it can compete for a Champions League spot; Inter is hoping to prove its title credentials. There's a lot of convincing to do in Sunday's Derby della Madonnina.

These rivals can understand their recent failings. Managers Sinisa Mihajlovic and Roberto Mancini have chastised their teams for their profligacy in front of goal. In the first half of the season, Inter managed to counterbalance a lack of scoring with solid defending. But the Nerazzurri haven't scored more than one goal in their past five fixtures, and they dropped points in four of them.

"I'm 50 years old, and even I would have scored from some of the chances we had," Mancini said after a 1-1 draw with relegation-threatened Carpi last weekend.

The shouts from Mihajlovic are similar. Aside from the virtuoso performances from €30-million man Carlos Bacca, who has 10 goals to his name in his maiden Serie A campaign, Milan has left a lot to be desired. In some matches, the team would fire around 20 shots against inferior opposition and have just a goal to show for those efforts.

And Mario Balotelli, ruled unfit to play after converting a penalty in Tuesday's 1-0 win over third-tier Alessandria, will also miss out entirely.

"We create a lot chances but don't score enough," Mihajlovic said. "A win in the derby would be a boost for the table and morale."

It also comes at one of the busiest times of the new calendar, with just days remaining before the end of the January transfer period.

Inter moved first by signing Italy international Eder from Sampdoria on Friday. The 29-year-old should help the club's misfiring strikeforce, and he even declared himself available for the match, a tricky adjustment for Milan to make in such little time.

For Mihajlovic's men, it was the risk of losing a starter rather than buying one that became a distinct possibility in a matter of hours. The club didn't exactly refuse Leicester City's reported €16-million offer for M'Baye Niang, as CEO Adriano Galliani said he would have listened to a bid if it had actually arrived. But the news is an undue distraction, and although Galliani told reporters he wouldn't comment on Milan's market, here we are talking about it.

A defeat for either outfit could force a mad scramble Feb. 1 - deadline day - when the most desperate signings tend to happen. Milan has only brought in Kevin-Prince Boateng this month, a substitute on most occasions, and Sunday's outcome may have an immediate impact on the money spent to cover any shortcomings.

In the end, however, it is a simple win-or-lose scenario. Inter would move as close as three points from the top spot with a victory, and Milan has to keep pace with Roma. Each of their seasons is still waiting for a proper definition. Nothing like a derby to settle it.

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