Milan face Inter in Champions League showdown to stir the senses

A bright red scooter skids by and the evening fireflies take flight. Springtime has spread itself across Milan like an open palm, and by some trick of the light San Siro is bathed in a magical purple glow from every direction. Climb one of the epic spiral walkways at just the right moment and your reward is one of the great sensory overloads in European football, a place that feels closer to heaven than Earth.

In the distance, the Milan skyline blinking and twinkling in the setting sun. In the foreground, the swell of noise and the smell of narcotics and the billow of flags: black and blue, black and red, delete as appropriate. Another night singing hymns. Another night chasing dreams.

Then a whistle blows and what follows is – frankly – not great. Milan, resting half a dozen first-team players, are trying and largely failing to break down Cremonese, who are trying and failing to stave off relegation to Serie B. As Divock Origi runs into dead ends and Charles De Ketelaere keeps tripping over the ball, the Milan faithful begin to grumble.

A man in a Wu-Tang Clan T-shirt swears loudly in between sucks of his vape. An injury-time equaliser from Junior Messias salvages an unlovable 1-1 draw. Two hours up the road, their city rivals, Internazionale, have crushed Verona 6-0 to move ahead in the Serie A table. Napoli are 15 points clear and playing the following night. This is Milan’s last night as champions and nobody quite knows what happens next.

The following morning, a Milan club employee who for obvious reasons must remain nameless is telling me he is desperate for Manchester City to win this season’s Champions League, just so Inter do not. “The final will be Manchester City against Inter,” he declares glumly. “In this