12 August 1990 - And The Game Hasn't Been The Same Since

On 12 August 1990, striker Mario Balotelli, the first black player to score for Italy, was born in Palermo.

His parents were Ghanaian immigrants who, when Balotelli was three years old, placed him in foster care at the recommendation of social services because they could not afford medical care. From that point on, he was raised by the Balotelli family and, at the age of 18, he became an Italian citizen.

He started his professional career in 2006 with Lumezzane, but made only two league appearances there before moving to Inter in 2007. In three seasons there, he helped the club to three Scudettos, but fell out with manager José Mourinho, who had replaced Roberto Mancini for Balotelli's last two seasons. In 2010, the striker followed Mancini to Manchester City, where he remained for two and half years, winning the 2011 FA Cup and the 2012 Premier League title, before moving back to Italy with AC Milan.

Balotelli earned his first cap for Italy in 2010 and scored his first international goal in November 2011—the first for a black player. Since then, he has scored ten goals in 25 appearances, including both goals in Italy's 2-1 quarterfinal win over Germany at Euro 2012.

Despite his talent, Balotelli has drawn heavy criticism for a lack of discipline both on and off the pitch, including disputes with teammates and a scuffle with Mancini while at Manchester City. One of his most memorable incidents, however, was nearly setting his house on fire while shooting off fireworks inside.

12 July 1973 - He Must Have Lived In An RV

On 12 July 1973, Italian striker Christian Vieri--who set a world transfer fee record in 1999--was born in Bologna.

In a career that spanned from 1991 to 2009, Vieri played for thirteen different teams in Italy, Spain, and France (technically, Monaco, but in the French league), generally staying no more than a single season at each one. The lone exceptions were Torino, where he made nine appearances in his first two seasons as a professional, and Inter, where he remained for an unprecedented six seasons, making 190 appearances and scoring 123 goals.

After winning the La Liga scoring title with Atlético Madrid in 1997-98, he moved to Lazio and won the 1999 Cup Winners' Cup. That attracted the interest of Inter president Massimo Moratti, who paid a then-record £32MM for his services. (Coincidentally, it was Lazio who broke the record in 2000 by giving £35.5 MM to Parma for Hernán Crespo).

He left Inter for Milan in 2005, but suffered a knee injury shortly afterward and made only 14 appearances before moving to Monaco in early 2006. He finished his career with Atalanta in 2009, having played there before in two different spells.

31 May 1972 - Ajax Sets The Standard

On 31 May 1972, Ajax won the second of three straight European Cups, beating Inter 2-0 with both goals coming from Johan Cruyff.

The reigning European Cup champions, Ajax had already claimed a domestic double that season, winning both the Eredivisie and the KNVB Cup. Cruyff, the 1971 Ballon d'Or winner, had finished the season as the league's top scorer with 25 goals.

Inter, meanwhile, after winning the tournament in 1964 and 1965, were back in it for the first time since finishing as runners-up to Celtic in 1967, and were hoping to redeem their season after finishing a disappointing fifth in Serie A.

The two teams met at De Kuip in Rotterdam, where a partisan crowd of 61,354 gathered for the event. They were rewarded with what some commentators described as "Total Football's greatest moment," as the free-flowing and constantly-shifting Ajax side unlocked Inter's defensive catenaccio formation, with Cruyff scoring in the 47th and 78th minutes.

Ajax repeated as champions in 1973, then again in 1995, while Inter claimed a third title in 2010.

25 May 1967 - The Lisbon Lions Roar

On 25 May 1967, Celtic became the first British club to win the European Cup, beating Inter 2-1 in Lisbon. Notably, fourteen of Celtic's fifteen players and coaches were born within 10 miles of Celtic Park.

Inter won back-to-back European Cups in 1964 and 1965, then defeated defending champions Real Madrid in the 1967 semifinals to reach their third final in four years. Celtic, meanwhile, were in the tournament for the first time.

In just the seventh minute, the referee awarded Inter a penalty when Celtic right back Jim Craig fouled forward Renato Cappellini in the box. Sandro Mazzola converted the ensuing kick to put the Italians up 1-0, allowing them to pull back into their defensive catenaccio formation favored by manager Helenio Herrera.

And it worked, for a while. But in the 63rd minute, Craig sent the ball in for Tommy Gemmell, who beat the Inter keeper Giuliano Sarti to draw Celtic level. Then, in the 84th minute, they took the lead when Stevie Chalmers scored the winner. Afterward, manager Jock Stein delivered a not-so-veiled criticism of Inter's defensive style, saying "We did it by playing football; pure, beautiful, inventive football. There was not a negative thought in our heads."

Celtic returned to the final in 1970, but lost to Feyenoord. Inter made it there twice more, losing to Ajaz in 1972, but beating Bayern Munich in 2010.

5 May 2002 - The Italian Job

On 5 May 2002, Juventus completed a remarkable run to the Serie A title, thanks in part to a season-end collapse by Inter.

It was the last day of the season and Inter had been at the top of the table since 24 March. On 30 March, they had a six-point lead over Juventus, who were then in third, with Roma in between. But Juve went on an unbeaten run to climb into second, while an Inter loss to Atalanta and draw with Chievo saw their lead shrink to a single point. Roma had dropped to third, but were separated from the top by only two points.

All three teams were away for their final matches of the season, Inter at Lazio, Juventus at Udinese, and Roma at Torino. In his pre-match conference, Roma manager Fabio Capello took a fatalistic approach to the day, saying that he expected all three teams to win, leaving the table unchanged.

As it turned out, he was two-thirds correct. Both Juventus and Roma went on to win--0-2 and 0-1, respectively--but Inter fell hard to Lazio. Despite taking a 1-2 lead in the first half, they went into the break level at 2-2, then surrendered a pair of second-half goals to fall 4-2.

The results pushed Juventus into first, Roma into second, and Inter into third.

24 December 2010 - Leonardo Crosses Milan's Version Of The Rubicon

On 24 December 2010, Inter announced their new manager, taking former Milan hero Leonardo away from their rival club.

A World-Cup winning Brazilian international, Leonardo made 119 appearances for Milan from 1997 to 2001, then another five in the 2002-03 before calling an end to his playing career. While there, he won the 1999 Scudetto and the 2003 Coppa Italia.

In 2008, he returned to the club in the position of technical director, then took over as manager in June 2009 after the departure of boss Carlo Ancelotti to Chelsea. But he failed to lift the Rossoneri's fortunes and rumors of an early departure swirled throughout the season. Finally, in April 2010, the club confirmed that Leonardo would depart at the end of the season.

At the time of his departure from Milan, Inter had made a change of their own, replacing departing manager José Mourinho with former Liverpool boss Rafa Benítez. But that hire lasted only six months, as a split between Benítez and the Inter board, fueled in part by the new manager's inability to live up to the standard set by Mourinho, led to his dismissal in December 2010.

Inter then brought Leonardo in to fill the vacant position, making him the fifth manager to switch from Milan to their derby rivals. His time at Inter lasted even less than at AC Milan, however, ending with his resignation in June 2011. One month later, he joined Paris Saint-Germain as their director of football, where he remains at present.

14 December 1986 - The Debut Of Dennis Bergkamp

On 14 December 1986, Dennis Bergkamp made his professional debut, coming on as a late substitute for Ajax against Roda JC.

Born in Amsterdam in 1969, Bergkamp joined the club's youth academy in 1981. He was 17 when he made that first professional appearance at home against Roda, as manager Johan Cruff subbed him in for Rob Witschge in the 66th minute. Ajax were already up 2-0 at the time and that turned out to be the final score.

The striker remained with the club for seven seasons, scoring 122 goals in 237 appearances across all competitions. Along the way, he won one Eredivisie title (1990), two KNVB Cups (1987, 1993), one UEFA Cup (1992), and one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1987) before moving to Inter for a transfer fee of £7.1 million.

He never settled at Inter and left after two seasons for Arsenal, where he regained his previous form. He went on to become one of the club's most highly regarded players, making 425 appearances and winning multiple league titles (1998, 2002, 2004) and FA Cups (1998, 2002, 2003, 2005) before his retirement in 2006.

21 November 1999 - Ronaldo's Black-And-Blue Period Begins

On 21 November 1999, Inter striker Ronaldo suffered a severe knee injury against Lecce that derailed his career for almost three years.

The 1997 Ballon d'Or winner was in his third season with Inter after moving from Barcelona. He had had an outstanding first season, scoring 39 goals in 56 appearances across all competitions, but his form dropped in the second, with a total of 15 goals.

He appeared to be back to his old self at the start of the 1999-2000 season, scoring five times in his first eleven appearances. The fifth goal came against Lecce in Inter's tenth league match of the season--he scored from the penalty spot in the 49th minute to put Inter up 5-0 en route to a 6-0 victory. But shortly after scoring, he ruptured a tendon in his right knee.

After an intense five-month rehabilitation period, Ronaldo returned to the pitch in April for the Coppa Italia final against Lazio, but re-injured his knee after only seven minutes. He missed the remainder of that season, the entire 2000-01 season and part of the 2001-02 season.

He went through another lengthy rehab period and recovered in time to help Brazil win the 2002 World Cup. The same year, he claimed his second Ballon d'Or.

Unfortunately for Ronaldo, his history of knee injuries was not over. In 2008, while playing for AC Milan, he ruptured a tendon in his left knee, forcing another long layoff, though he again recovered and played for Corinthians between 2009 and 2011 before finally retiring.

19 September 1926 - The San Siro Sees Action

On 19 September 1926, Milan and Inter inaugurated the San Siro with a friendly. Inter won, 3-6.

Although the two teams share the stadium now, it originally belonged to Milan. The idea for the new stadium came from club president Piero Pirelli, who also funded the 5 million lire construction cost. Contrary to the multi-use model of most Italian grounds at the time, architect Ulisse Stacchini rejected the inclusion of a track surrounding the pitch in order to create a more intimate setting for the stadium's capacity crowd of 35,000.

Named the New San Siro Football Stadium after the district in which it is located, the new stadium did not have an auspicious start for Milan, as they lost that first match to Inter, 3-6, then lost their first league match there as well.

The club sold the stadium to the city of Milan in 1935, but the Rossoneri remained the sole occupant until 1947, when Inter became joint tenants. In 1980, it was offiicially renamed after Milan and Inter star Giuseppe Meazza, but it is still commonly referred to as the San Siro.

It has since undergone several expansions and currently holds a capacity of 80,018.

16 September 2007 - Zlatan's Serie A Century

On 16 September 2007, Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimović made his 100th appearance in Italy's Serie A, spread out over two different teams.

After starting his career with Malmö (1999-2001) and Ajax (2001-2004), Ibrahimović moved to Italy, joining Juventus in the summer of 2004 for a transfer fee of €16 million. He went to make 70 league appearances for them in two seasons, scoring 23 goals as Juventus won the title both seasons.

But in the summer of 2006, the Italian Football Federation stripped Juventus of those two titles and relegated them to Serie B as a result of the club's involvement in the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal. A number of stars, including Ibrahimović, left the club immediately afterward, with Ibrahimović landing at Inter for €24.8 million.

In his first season with Inter, he made 27 league appearances to carry his total to 97 as Inter won the league. He then played in his 100th Serie A match in Inter's third contest of the 2007-08 season as they beat Catania 2-0 at the San Siro. Inter won the league again that season, then added a third in 2009 before Ibrahimović moved to Barcelona. By then, he had extended his Serie A appearances to 158.

After two seasons as Barcelona, he returned to Serie A in 2010 to spend two years with AC Milan, where he made another 61 league appearances before leaving for PSG in the summer of 2012.

6 May 1998 - An Italian Affair In Paris

On 6 May 1998, Inter won their third UEFA Cup, beating Serie A rivals Lazio 3-0.

There had been three previous all-Italian UEFA Cup Finals, including Inter's first win in 1991 when they beat Roma. They won it again in 1994 over Casino Salzburg and returned to the Final in 1997, but lost to Schalke. Lazio, meanwhile, were making their first appearance in a Final.

For the 1998 edition, UEFA abandoned their previous two-legged format for a single match, which was played at the Parc des Princes in Paris. A crowd of 44,412 turned out to see the teams face each other for a third time that season--Lazio had gotten the better of Inter in the league, drawing 1-1 in Milan and winning 3-0 in Rome. But Inter wasted little time in staking their claim to the UEFA Cup, going up 1-0 when forward Iván Zamorano beat Lazio keeper Luca Marchegiani from close range in just the 5th minute. Zamorano nearly doubled the lead shortly after the break, but his shot rebounded off the post.

Center back Javier Zanetti did doubled the lead in the 60th minute with a blast from outside the box that curled into the top right corner of the net. Ten minutes later, Inter's record signing Ronaldo (pictured) capped the victory by beating Marchegiani with a dribble, then rolling the ball into the empty net.

It was Inter's last European trophy until they won the Champions League in 2010.