Milan, Mosaics and Mark Hateley: The Art of the Derby della Madonnina Tifo

Inter and Milan. Black and blue. Red and black. Milan is a city of contrasts. None more so than on derby day, when San Siro becomes a giant canvas for the Curva Nord and the Curva Sud to establish local bragging rights with spectacular choreographies.

Thanks to its phenomenal setting of Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, no other derby in Italy produces a better visual spectacle.

The ultras are responsible for the tifos. They raise the money, they produce them, and in keeping with their ethos, they organise everything. Since a crackdown from the Italian Interior Ministry over the past two decades, the tifos have had to be approved by the local police and authorities beforehand.

In Milan, a major clampdown on organised ultras groups effectively dismantled the leadership of both curvas over the past two years, leading to a lack of tifo in recent derbies. That, however, could soon change as both clubs have worked with the authorities and fans’ representatives.

And with the two Milanese giants set to move out of San Siro in 2032, tifo could soon be a thing of the past altogether. As things stands, there are only 10 Serie A derbies left at San Siro.

Ahead of this season’s first instalment of the Derby della Madonnina, we have picked seven of the best tifos.

Inter 1-3 Milan, October 3 2004

In May 2003, Inter and Milan met on the European stage for the first time in their history with a place in the Champions League final at stake.

“Leading up to the game, people talked only about football,” Andriy Shevchenko recalled to The Guardian back in 2023.

“Fans on the street would stop the players and say, ‘you have to win the derby’. It was impossible to relax, or think about anything else: only the derby existed.

“We played two games: one in the build up and then on the pitch. And managing expectations was also crucial.”

The Ukrainian, too, proved to be crucial, his goal in the second leg enough to send Milan through on away goals following a 1-1 draw on aggregate. More was to come two weeks later from Shevchenko, who converted the decisive penalty as the Rossoneri beat Juventus in an all-Italian final to lift their first Champions League in almost a decade.

Inter’s wait for European football’s biggest prize, meanwhile, had stretched to 48 years – as their city rivals were all too happy to remind them ahead of their first meeting the following season.

“We make your dreams come true,” proclaimed a banner in Milan’s Curva Sud underneath a mosaic of the Champions League. Winners on the night, the Rossoneri would go on to win the Scudetto – a whopping 23 points ahead of their rivals.

Inter 3-2 Milan, December 11 2005

Two years later, the Curva Nord hit back with a tifo depicting Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek with a clown’s nose accompanied by the message: “They thought they had it won.”

Above the portrait of Dudek, three separate mosaics spelt out 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, a nod to Milan’s collapse against Liverpool in the Champions League final in Istanbul seven months earlier.

Worse was to come on the pitch for Milan, who arrived into the derby 18th in the table while their rivals led Serie A. Adriano opened the scoring from the spot, before Andriy Shevchenko equalised in an electric first half. Obafemi Martins restored Inter’s lead, but Jaap Stam to seemingly rescued a point for the Rossoneri seven minutes from time. That was until Adriano headed home the winner in the second minute of injury time.

Inter 4-2 Milan, May 6 2012

Arguably the greatest Milan derby in recent memory, as far as tifos are concerned. Two years removed from their historic Triplete under Jose Mourinho, the Nerazzurri had been dragged back into the pack and finished sixth, 22 points behind Milan.

With the Nerazzurri’s dominance over it was time for Il Diavolo to use binoculars to check their rivals’ whereabouts.

“Seeing you [competing for trophies] in May is a mirage once again,” laughed the Curva Sud.

The Curva Nord responded with what is probably its most iconic choreography to date – a mosaic of the Gold Madonna that stands atop the Duomo on a black and blue backdrop captioned “Ti te dominet Milan”, Milanese dialect for “You dominate Milan.”

On the pitch, Inter had the last laugh, with Diego Milito’s hat-trick and Maicon’s late goal cancelling out Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s double and handing the title to Juventus.

Milan 3-0 Inter, January 31 2016

In October 1984, Mark Hateley wrote himself into Milan folklore by scoring the winner in his first ever Derby della Madonnina as the Rossoneri came back from a goal down to win 2-1.

Over three decades later, the Curva Sud paid homage to the Englishman with a stunning tifo depicting Hateley heading in that decisive goal over a powerless Fulvio Collovati.

“Sovrastiamoli,” Italian for “Let’s dominate them” was the succinct message.

“It was magnificent,” Hateley said. “I was covering the derby for BeIn Sport, and I was talking when the tifo appeared. The entire working studio instantly stopped and turned to look in my direction.”

And dominate Milan did, with Alex, Carlos Bacca and M’Baye Niang all scoring in a 3-0 win.

Milan 0-2 Inter, September 21 2019

The Curva Sud produced another memorable tifo for the first derby of the 2019-20 season, featuring none other than Milan’s patron saint St. Ambrose – in a fully red robe with a Rossonero mitre – stomping on a giant snake, Inter’s symbol.

Two messages either side of the main tifo read: “The legend tells a story of fantasy and imagination, but the reality tells us that even the patron fell into temptation”, while the one under St. Ambrose stated: “Al Diavolo la fede”.

While that translates to “To hell with loyalty”, in Italian it is a clever word play on placing faith in the Devil, or Il Diavolo as Milan are known.

But it was Il Diavolo who found itself in hell as goals from Marcelo Brozovic and Romelu Lukaku secured a 2-0 win for the the Nerazzurri.

Inter 1-0 Milan, February 5 2023

The snake featured prominently again four years later, but this time in the Curva Nord, which produced one of the greatest tifo in the history of the derby.

A huge mosaic depicting the face of an angry black and blue snake occupied the entirety of Inter’s curva, while the message underneath read: “We are Milan.” Milan the city, of course.

A Lautaro Martinez goal was the difference between the two sides, but by then Inter had all but given up hope of defending their Scudetto as Luciano Spalletti’s Napoli disappeared into the distance.

Inter 5-1 Milan, September 16 2023

A top of the table tussle in 2023 yet again brought out the creative juices of both sets of fans. Circo Internazionale, read a banner in the Curva Sud, a play on the Italian word for circus and Inter’s name.

The Curva Nord replied with a huge mosaic of a scary looking cartoon-like mouse cast again a backdrop of black, blue and yellow. The accompanying banners, however, were in the red and black of Milan.

“Touchy and insecure, you lot crawled out from a sewer,” was the message. Straight to the point.

Inter’s display was just as impressive on the pitch. Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored twice, Marcus Thuram, Hakan Calhanoglu and Davide Frattesi all helped themselves to one apiece as they thrashed their rivals 5-1 to record their biggest derby victory in 13 years.