International break has gone and Serie A action returns to San Siro with the first city derby of the season and win is a must for both sides as the result can put one up from the other in the League table. AC Milan and Inter Milan will fight for all three points in the contest known as Derby della Madoninna, one of the biggest football events that can be enjoyed in Italy and it is lived with great excitement all over the city.

Inzaghi’s side are seventh and one point up on the table from Nerazzurri, and also two spots up -with Udinese placed eighth-. Win and draw would keep AC Milan over Inter and Mancini’s side has only one chance to overcome Rossoneri through a victory. The game will kick off at 19:45 hours (GMT). -Serie A Table-

Fernando Torres has an Inter Milan precedent when he was a Liverpool Plaver. The Spaniard scored the goal that was the precursor to Mancini’s dismissal at the end of the 2007/08 season. The date was the 11th of March 2008 and the venue San Siro as Liverpool overcame the nerazzurri 1-0 to send Inter out of the Champions League. Torres scored the decisive goal on 64 minutes.

Also Torres is a player to fear when it comes to a derby contest. Fernando has scored 10 goals in derby matches during his career in Spain and England: Real Madrid (1), Everton (3), Arsenal (1), West Ham (1), Queens Park Rangers (3) and Crystal Palace (1).

Fernando Torres in Friday’s edition of the Gazzetta dello Sport spoke about Inter coach Roberto Mancini and his coach Filippo Inzaghi: "I know, with Liverpool I’ve already punished Mancini, but I would like to clear up that I have nothing against him. I hope that at the end of the match we will shake hands, even if I might have scored again against him and Milan have won…he’s an excellent coach and he has done an excellent job. Inzaghi? He gives us lots of advice. For now he is focusing a lot on the group. With myself, he advises on my positioning and he urges me to not worry, saying you’ve always scored goals and you will do so here."

Ahead of the match, here are some interesting facts to whet the appetite. The most decisive players: based on goals scored and the points won for the side, the 2 most decisive players this season have been Keisuke Honda for the rossoneri and Mauro Icardi for the nerazzurri.

Milan are the home side for this Sunday’s derby. Inter meanwhile have the worst attack in the league away from home, having scored just 2 goals on their travels, the same number as Udinese, Atalanta and ChievoVerona. Inter’s 2 goals came at Palermo (Kovacic) and at Cesena (Icardi, penalty).

The last Milanese derby with Milan as the home side to end in a draw was on the 24th of October 2004. The final score was 0-0. The following 10 official matches have resulted in 6 wins for Milan and 4 for Inter.

This Sunday will be Filippo Inzaghi’s first derby as first team coach. As a player however he played in 12 derbies. 2 for Juventus (1 win and 1 draw) and 10 for Milan (5 wins, 3 defeats and 2 draws). From these 12 derbies, Inzaghi has scored 4 goals and they all came with the Milan jersey.

Milan will be looking to end Roberto Mancini’s unbeaten record in his first match in charge after joining a club with the season already underway: Manchester City-Stoke 2-0 Premier League 2009/10, Perugia-Fiorentina 2-2 Serie A 2000/01 and Juventus-Galatasaray 2-2 Champions League 2013/14.

- Precedents and stats by acmilan.com