The upcoming match on Wednesday will be the 190th between Inter and Fiorentina (81 wins for Inter, 51 for Fiorentina and 58 draws). Fiorentina have scored 242 goals, Inter 296. The top goal-scorer of all these matches is Gabriel Batistuta with 15 goals, followed by Mauro Icardi at 11 and Sandro Mazzola at 10.

Stefano Pioli has played 30 times against Inter, with a record of 17 losses, seven wins and six draws, as well as 34 goals scored and 57 conceded. Cristian Chivu has only played against Fiorentina once, last season, when he was coaching Parma. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Fiorentina’s latest win in Milan dates back to the 2022/23 season, with a goal scored by Giacomo Bonaventura. However, their latest win overall is more recent: a resounding 3-0 win at the Franchi last February, with a brace by Moise Kean and the third, final goal by Luca Ranieri.

This game is not just a matter of figures: it is also a combination of personal stories, faces, players switching teams and overlapping careers. Many players and coaches have in fact played for both Fiorentina and Inter.

One of the first names that comes to mind is Daniel Passarella, who arrived in Italy in 1982 as he joined Fiorentina, and would then go on to become one of the pillars of Inter’s defense until 1986. Ramon Diaz followed a similar path: he had a successful spell in Florence, followed by a league title win and many records with Giovanni Trapattoni’s Inter.

Other major players that must be mentioned are Daniele Adani, Giampaolo Pazzini, Nicola Berti and Gabriele Oriali. Oriali finished his playing career at the Franchi. Marco Branca too was an important player: he was a prolific goal-scorer in Milan who also played for a short period for Fiorentina.

Other unforgettable players are Adriano, Cristiano Zanetti and Christian Vieri. The Brazilian player played for a short period for Fiorentina on loan, before breaking out at Inter. Zanetti rose through the ranks at Fiorentina and emerged as a star while at Inter. Vieri, an Inter legend, started feeling like a player again during the 2007/08 season in Florence.

And then there’s Roberto Baggio, who scored 39 goals for Fiorentina and 13 for Inter. Batistuta was a Fiorentina legend with his 160 goals but only played for a short period for Inter in 2003. Francesco Toldo, on the other hand, spent most of his career playing for the two teams, as did Sebastien Frey, Adrian Mutu, Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Pablo Daniel Osvaldo.

There’s also a lot to say about the coaches who have managed the two teams. Giovanni Trapattoni won the league title with Inter in 1989 and nearly did the same with Fiorentina ten years later.

Roberto Mancini began his coaching career at Fiorentina and won a Coppa Italia trophy while in Florence. He then went on to write Inter history with two consecutive league titles.

Ottavio Bianchi was the first coach of the Moratti era and the second-to-last of the Cecchi Gori period in Florence.

Claudio Ranieri was very successful at Fiorentina winning a Coppa Italia and a Supercoppa in 1996, while his period at Inter was just a short one.

One must also mention Sinisa Mihajlovic, who first played for Inter and then coached Fiorentina, and Paulo Sousa, who coached Fiorentina from 2015 to 2017, after having played as a midfielder for Marcello Lippi’s Inter.

This match is therefore no mere game: it is a true classic of Italian football, with a lot of history and rivalries behind it. It’s a competition that has marked the career of many players and coaches and that still today remains a source of great passion and exciting stories.