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Rome (AP) - When Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romelu Lukaku drive to the Milan stadium, the two footballers are reminded of their cup dispute.

The Swede Ibrahimovic, who plays for AC Milan, and the Belgian Lukaku, who is under contract with Inter, stood head to head in the arena in January and insulted each other.

The tatters flew in Inter's 2-1 victory.

Photos of the argument were still in the Italian media days later.

At the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, which Inter and AC share, a graffiti artist later immortalized the scene on a house wall.

The sports court punished both professionals for their behavior with a game ban in the cup.

On Sunday afternoon, both teams will meet again with their top strikers in Serie A - and the whole of football Italy is already waiting for another tremor.

At the derby, runner-up AC Milan is the host, Inter comes as a guest, but as the front runner.

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The "Rossineri" of AC coach Stefano Pioli want above all to regain the top of the table.

On the last 22nd matchday they failed in the 2-0 away defeat against Spezia Calcio and awarded important points.

Coach Antonio Conte, on the other hand, won his game with Inter at home against Lazio Rome 3-1 and took first place.

Before the derby, the opponents are only separated by one point.

As is usual before such a top game, the first experts gave their predictions for the game.

Alberto Zaccheroni, who had coached both at Inter and AC in the noughties, certified that the "Ibra" squad played better as a team.

“Inter, on the other hand, is physically superior and has the strongest attack of all,” said the 67-year-old of “Gazzetta dello Sport”.

Former Italian prime minister and ex-president of AC Milan, Silvio Berlusconi, relies on AC, as he said in an interview.

"But you have to change the way you stand on the field and I would like to give you some advice," said the 84-year-old.

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Looking at the starting line-ups, Pioli may have to do without midfielder Ismael Bennacer, who injured himself in a 2-2 draw between AC in the Europa League against Red Star Belgrade on Thursday.

At Inter Milan, the question remains whether Conte will include former Bayern Munich midfielder Arturo Vidal, or Christian Eriksen, who moved from Tottenham Hotspur to Milan in early 2020.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210219-99-507308 / 2

Table Serie A (Italian)

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Match calendar Serie A (Italian)

Homepage AC Milan (Italian)

Homepage Inter Milan (Italian)

Interview with Alberto Zaccheroni in "Gazzetta dello Sport" (Italian)

Statement by Silvio Berlusconi (Italian)