[1] Because of their more prosperous ancestry, Inter fans had the "luxury" to go to the San Siro stadium by motorcycle (motoretta, another nickname given to the Nerazzurri).

Alfred Edwards, a former British vice-consul in Milan and a well-known personality of the Milanese high society, was the club's first elected president.

The triumph of 1901 was particularly relevant because it ended the consecutive series of wins of Genoa, which had been the only team to have won the title prior to 1901.

The first derby match between the two Milanese rivals was held in the final of the Chiasso Cup of 1908, a football tournament played in Canton Ticino, Switzerland, on 18 October of that year; the Rossoneri won 2–1.

While Inter and Milan faced each other sporadically in the early years, the rivalry has been renewed annually since the inaugural 1926–27 season of the Divisione Nazionale, the first truly national Italian league.

This era saw brilliant derby matches and an increasing rivalry: while Milan won the European Cup in 1962–63, Inter followed with back-to-back success in the following years.

The rivalry continued on the Italy national team, where two players from their respective clubs would often not play together, with one usually being substituted by the other at half-time.

Rivera ended up losing the starting line-up to Mazzola in the 1970 final against Brazil, in which Italy was defeated 1–4 by the South Americans.

Milan's dominance, both domestically and internationally, had seen them capture four league titles and three European Cups (finishing runners-up two additional times) between 1989 and 1996.

They met again in the quarter-finals of the 2004–05 edition; Milan triumphed on aggregate after UEFA awarded them a 3–0 victory in the second leg, as the match was abandoned due to flares thrown by Inter fans.

During the same season, however, Milan had captured their seventh European Cup/UEFA Champions League, defeating Liverpool in the final in Athens.

In 2023–24, Inter defeated Milan 2–1 as the designated "away" side on 22 April 2024; the result confirmed they had won their 20th league title, marking the first time the Scudetto had been decided in a Derby della Madonnina.