Lazio & Inter: I hate you because I love you

The concept of "twinning" (gemellaggio) is not really understood on the Anglosphere, but even in Italy things are probably starting to change just by the sake of looking at the history of a famous friendship between Inter and Lazio, the blue sides of the cities of Milan and Rome. From the 1980s onwards, as Lazio started to fight for a place in the sun, things have turned occasionally nasty - the Uefa Cup final in Paris in 1998, a referee then scored (!) against Lazio in 1999 before the skyblues handled Juventus the title in 2002. Everybody felt united in 2010 when Lazio had to make way for their friends who went on to win the Treble the very same season at the expenses of Roma. But things then backfired in 2018 when Vecino sent Inter back to the Champions League and ex Lazio manager Simone Inzaghi returned in 2024 to inflict more pain on his former club as the Champions of Italy hit an unanswered six goals at the Olimpico in the latest episode of what has literally become a love-hate relationship.