Two million ticket requests for enormous Champions League Milan derby

The excitement ahead of the Champions League semi-final between AC Milan and Inter Milan has reached new heights, with Italian newspaper La Repubblica reporting that two million tickets were requested for the first leg on Wednesday.

According to the Italian newspaper, ticket requests were so high that it could have filled the San Siro stadium 26 times over.

For comparison, the city of Milan has a population of about 1.3 million.

The upcoming match between Milan and Inter will mark their fifth encounter in European competition, with Milan boasting an unbeaten record in the previous four matches

The return leg will take place on 16 May.

Ahead of what promises to be an incredibly tense face-off, Inter boss Simone Inzaghi has told his team they must think on their feet and be adaptable if they are to overturn a losing Champions League record against their familiar foes.

The clubs have faced each other on two occasions in the knockout stages, with Milan emerging victorious in both previous ties - played in 2003 and 2005.

However, Inter have been more successful in recent meetings, winning three and drawing two of the seven derbies the teams have played since Inzaghi took over as Inter manager in 2021.

Those wins have included 3-0 victories in the Italian Supercup final earlier this year and last year's Coppa Italia semi-finals.

"We have played many times, I said it before. Seven. We have won, lost, made semi-finals, finals," Inzaghi told reporters ahead of the sides' semi-final first-leg meeting at the San Siro on Wednesday.

"We will have to be very good at using our heads when we need to, because there are always unexpected events in such important matches: in the last ones, we have always been good at being lucid.

"It's a very