Derby della Ronaldo

By Alessandra Bacchetta

The folks from Ashbourne in Derbyshire, England claim their town to be the place where the first ever derby took place. They point to an annual football/rugby match played there as early as the 12th century and played to this day every year on Shrove Tuesday as the blueprint for all derbies. Local folklore has it that the first Royal Shrovetide Football Match, as the derby of Ashbourne is called, started as a chaotic and exuberant contest in which the two halves of the town, geographically separated by a river, battled fiercely for the pride of the town. These games were so heated that they often resulted with casualties.

And so at least in football, the word “derby” has come to represent the closest thing in sports to war. As D-day nears, the city splits into camps of us and them, historic borders are redrawn and friends become foes even if just for one day. The famous football derbies, just like the famous battles, are honored with names such as The Old Firm in Glasgow (Celtics vs.Rangers), Derby da Capital in Lisbon (Benfica vs. Sporting) and Derby della Madonnina in Milan (Inter vs. AC Milan).

Last March in Milan, with the keys to the city at stake, the legendary Derby della Madonnina, added another wrinkle to its history– a story of betrayal. Ronaldo, one of Inter Milan’s most beloved warriors had returned to San Siro stadium, this time, in AC Milan uniform. In Italy, a country obsessed with football and loyalty, it’s nothing short of blasphemy for a franchise player to leave the club that made him famous for another. But if Ronaldo leaving Inter, only hours after Inter conceded the championship to Juventus in 2002, was the knife in the back of the Nerazzuri fans (as Inter is nicknamed for their black and blue jerseys), then joining nemesis and city rivals, AC Milan, 5 years later, was sure the twisting of that knife. And Ronaldo was about to do Inter fans one more.

“I am so not letting any Inter fan get away with this. I want to see them green with anger and envy! They can never forget that Ronaldo joined us, and betrayed them. And is also playing well!” said 35-year-old press agent, Maurizio Pilleri, setting the tone for the typical Milan derby atmosphere.

While Milan fans played the betrayal card, Inter fans countered by picking on Ronaldo’s well-publicized weight issues with banners such as, “Good for them they haven’t paid you by the kilo,” that clearly expressed their resentment at their former player.

Ronaldo’s recent weight problems while with Real Madrid have garnered him the nickname “el gordo” (the chubby) from Spanish fans. His passion for good cuisine, desserts in particular, is apparently too strong to contain and the rigid rules that team doctors set for football players prove ineffective on Ronaldo, especially if a chocolate cake is in the vicinity. “I get fat with just about anything,” Ronaldo contended in an interview with Sky Sports. “It’s unbelievable, I obviously do pay attention to my diet, eat fruit, vegetables, healthy food. But it’s just not that easy to lose weight and maintain the best shape for me.’’ To former Italian National and Juventus defender, Ciro Ferrara, who at 40 is as athletic as ever, these remarks are puzzling. “I don’t know how Ronaldo can get fat eating kiwis,” the Naples-native said. “Maybe he eats them with the peel on.”

On game day, March 11, when AC Milan’s number 99 took the field to warm up and stretch before his first match ever against his former club, it was a bittersweet moment for Nerazzuri’s sports director Gabriele Oriali. “I admit that it bothers me to see him play on the opposite side,” remarked the ’82 World Cup champion. “And I have to say, the red stripes in those rossoneri jerseys make him look wider. It’s not a pleasant sight!”

The rest of the Nerazzuri supporters did not take to reminiscing about the man they once nicknamed “fenomeno.” Instead, they distributed as many as 30,000 whistles that unleashed a deafening shriek on San Siro every time Ronaldo was anywhere in the vicinity of the ball. A rather civilized approach from the derby hosts considering that for a similar offense, the Barcelona loyal greeted Ronaldo’s former teammate, Luis Figo, by throwing a pig’s head at his feet during a corner kick. This is after Figo, the first of many “galacticos” to come, defected from Barcelona to Real Madrid.

Forty minutes into the tepid game, the Brazilian “fenomeno” proved once again as he did last summer in the World Cup in Germany, that size doesn’t matter. And, as he so often does, in one moment of sheer brilliance, Ronaldo struck from 35 yards out and silenced dietitians and Inter fans alike. But Inter, who are having a phenomenal season, are not to be denied this year. They quickly regained the lead and clinched the Milan double for the first time since 1982.

In the end, derby della Madonnina for all its subplots and storylines could not have played out any better. Ronaldo appears primed once again to shine in the city that made him phenomenal, and Inter continues its magical season, setting the stage for next year’s derby where there is sure to be a new subplot emerging.

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