It is time for one of the great rivalries in European Football, the Milan derby, between bitter rivals, A.C. Milan and Inter Milan at the San-Siro the joint home-ground of both teams.

The Milan derby is a renowned occasion of football and has produced spectacular matchups, stunning goals and iconic scenes. The anticipation is even more palpable as the two heavyweights of Italian football go head-to-head in the Semi-final of Europe’s premier club competition, the Champions League.

A.C. Milan Defender, Fikayo Tomori, speaking in an interview as part of the build-up to the big occasion expressed his thoughts going into the game:

“…we’re going up against one of the best teams in Europe and I think now we can be regarded as one of the best teams in Europe and we’re in the Semi-final of the Champions League, you know it’s not easy to get here so, yeah we’re really looking forward to playing that game and like I said we’ve got a really exciting run-in you know, we’ve got things to play for…. Being a derby in the Semi-final, it doesn’t really get much bigger than that…and I think in the last round against Napoli, a lot of people were already cutting us out for it and we managed to pull off two good performances, we played them three times in ten days and we didn’t lose so, yeah I think a lot of people now or us ourselves know what we can do and I think a lot of people now are starting to see Milan are a good team, yeah we just have to try and put our best foot forward, trying to win that game, obviously like you said we know Inter Milan very well…”

Well, A.C. Milan Striker, Olivier Giroud, is eyeing yet another final in what has been quite an incredible career so far, with twelve (12) major trophies including a Champions League, a Europa League and a World Cup and in an interview he has stated that he’s still hungry for more:

“…we’re still in the race for top-four and Champions League and it’s amazing to play there for the Semi-final and we can always do better you know, but things are really going well for the Club, for myself and I’m very proud of all of it even more because I am not that young anymore but I am still hungry, I stil, want to carry on as a competitor you know and yeah I’m still hungry for trophies...”

Now, on the opposite side of the pitch to Giroud will most-likely be Inter Milan’s Latauro Martinez, the Striker who has scored seven (7) goals in his twelve (12) matches against A.C. Milan, although Stefano Pioli’s side has only conceded one (1) goal in their last six (6) Champions League matches. Romelu Lukaku has been in fine form this Season and shall be aiming to help Inter reach their first Champions League Final since 2010.

Both teams will be hoping to have the full compliments of their squads available, but news coming out of Milan indicates that A.C. Milan forward, Raphael Leao’s fitness is in doubt and the youngster is set to be assessed ahead of the big game.