Milan defender Fikayo Tomori, speaking to BT Sport: "I'm surprised at how comfortable I feel. I feel so at home.

"For a club like Milan, this is what we want to do, we want to be fighting for things at the end of the season."

Martin Laursen
Former AC Milan defender talking to Sport Today on BBC World Service

Of course you can feel as a player that a local derby is a little bit different but from a player's point of view it's not the important thing. The most important thing for the players is to reach the final. So it could have been Dortmund. It could've been Manchester City. Whoever.

The players prepare for the game as if it was any other game. They just want to go through and they want to be in the final. And if they can beat their local rivals, then even better. But that's not the main focus for them.

If you walk around the city and speak to people you can feel the difference but I believe the players don't do that. They stay at home, they prepare for the game as if it's any other game.

Ian Dennis
BBC Radio 5 Live senior football reporter at San Siro

To be inside San Siro tonight, especially when you consider this - reports in Italy there were two million ticket requests for this game. It could have been filled 26 times over.

This is only the third time they have faced each other in European competition.

Milan are the designated home team, so the majority of this stadium is predominantly red and black. I'd suggest there are 7,000 Inter fans, the rest Milan and they will be hoping to take some sort of advantage into next week's 'return'.

Image source, .

Romelu Lukaku's return to Inter Milan has been a letdown for all concerned.

The Belgian striker won Serie A with the club in 2020-21 and was named the Serie A player of the year, before moving to Chelsea, where he had a disappointing season.

But his loan spell to Inter last summer has not rekindled his form.

He has only netted 10 goals this term - including the quarter-final win over Benfica, compared to 64 goals in his other two years in Italy.

"He had an injury that made him unavailable for four months, now he's back and helping us as is the rest of the squad," said boss Simone Inzaghi.

Inter's top scorers this season are Lautaro Martinez and Edin Dzeko on 23 and 13 goals respectively.

This is the 236th Milan derby - a rivalry going back to 1908 when a group of people split away from AC Milan to set up Inter.

Inter have won 87, Milan 79 and 69 draws.

They have met 178 times in Serie A with the other meetings coming in different versions of the Italian league, cups and the Champions League.

Mina Rzouki
European football expert on BBC Radio 5 live

Milan decided to give Pioli the chance but after a huge loss to Atalanta that is when they realised they needed to bring in experienced players like Ibrahimovic, to make sure the younger players are not scared to perform in these sorts of atmospheres.

Pioli during the pandemic contacted all the players all the time. He is a person who if you message during the week and he may have three games to wade through but he will find time to get back to you.

That is the kind of guy these players needed. So the song 'Pioli's on fire' is merited.

According to Gracenote's predictions, Manchester City (52.5%) are favourites to win this season's Champions League, ahead of Real Madrid (20.3%), Inter (16.8%) and AC Milan (10.4%).

Quiz

It has been 20 years since the two clubs last met in the last four of the competition.

Back in 2002-03, Carlo Ancelotti's Milan advanced on away goals before beating Juventus on penalties in the final at Old Trafford.

When the teams faced each other again in the quarter-finals two years later, the Rossoneri won the first leg before the return fixture was abandoned because of crowd trouble.

But can you name all 22 players who started that controversial second leg 18 years ago? Take the quiz here.

Ryan: I’m young enough to remember when Milan were up there at the height of the European elite. Great to see them worm their way back in after an extended hiatus!! Regardless of what the media and fans are saying about City and Haaland etc, I see Milan and Madrid both as favourites big time.

"I want to enjoy it to the max," says Inter full-back Federico Dimarco.

The 25-year-old Italy international came through Inter's academy.

“I don't want to talk about revenge [for their semi-final meeting 20 years ago] because so much time has passed since then," he said.

"I was at San Siro in 2003 and to think that I was there 20 years ago and am now playing in one, it's amazing.

"But we need to focus on the here and now and get a good result. We can view it just as a Champions League semi-final but we also know how important the derby is.

"We need to go into these next six days just focusing on ourselves, before this game and the second leg. You need both a good head and heart to play in these games.”

Asmir Begovic
Everton goalkeeper on BBC Radio 5 Live

On his former Milan manager Stefano Pioli

I'll put a WhatsApp status on and he will send me an emoji. He has one with his own face on! He's the coolest guy ever.

But that connection is so priceless and then you go to a tactical point of view, tactically he is so clear what he wants, he has great attention to detail.

With Italian teams they are so trigger happy at times with managers but you look at these two teams and probably have more stability than most and they are being rewarded.

These two ties will be the eighth and ninth meeting of Italian teams in the Champions League... and all nine have involved AC Milan.

Milan are unbeaten in seven European games (three wins, four draws) against Inter, Juventus and Napoli.

No Italian side has won the Champions League since Inter Milan in 2009-10 as part of their Treble.

Funnily neither of these teams are even the best in Italy this season - and are battling it out to even be in this competition again.

Napoli have already won the Serie A title. Inter face Fiorentina in the Italian Cup final.

Image source, .

Simone Inzaghi is in his second season as Inter Milan boss, having previously been at Lazio since 1999 as a player, coach and manager.

The former Italy striker led Inter to the Coppa Italia last season - and they are in this season's final against Fiorentina in two weeks' time.

On tonight's game, he said: "There must be no fear but a lot of desire, we must stick together with our fans as we have done in these past months, we have hugged each other and cheered together many times.

"Sometimes we got angry but we must enjoy these evenings that seemed so far away in August, when they seemed like a dream, and now the final is 180 minutes away."

Pat Nevin
Former Scotland winger on BBC Radio 5 Live at San Siro

Really so excited about this.

I have been to so many games here over the years, some were extra special, one that jumps out is I remember Celtic coming here. It was a great atmosphere.

My first time here was to see David Bowie live, if this is the last time I am here then it will have been a good start and a good end.

Stefano Pioli has been Milan boss since October 2019.

The 57-year-old was Inter manager for six months during 2016-17.

"I've tried to instil determination in my team, but also the joy at playing in a match like this," he said.

"We've knocked out Tottenham and Napoli, we can knock anybody out. We're expecting the atmosphere at San Siro to be electric. The fans will drive us to give our all from start to finish."

Asmir Begovic
Everton goalkeeper on BBC Radio 5 Live

Inter striker Edin Dzeko is a world class player. He has the talent, he has everything you want from a centre forward. He maybe lacks a bit of pace but it is difficult to have everything.

For someone who has known him for 15 years [playing together for Bosnia] it is no surprise to me he is doing this. He leads that front line perfectly.

It is a huge credit to Edin that he is still performing at the highest level at his age.

Because the San Siro is home of both AC Milan and Inter Milan, in a fairly rare quirk this is a two-legged tie where both legs will be played at the same venue.

Today the majority of the fans will be for Milan - and next week it will be packed out with mostly Inter supporters.

Martin Laursen
Former AC Milan defender talking to Sport Today on BBC World Service

San Siro is magical. It's beautiful inside and especially from the outside.

The only problem is the pitch is not up to standard. It's not a good pitch. But that's obviously because two teams are playing there every week. But it's a beautiful, beautiful stadium.

Simon Stone
BBC Sport

The tie will allow for the iconic shots of a stadium - Stadio Giuseppe Meazza to give it the proper title - known all over the world for its distinctive red girders, that was initially opened in 1926 and most recently modernised for the 1990 World Cup.

On the outside, the structure is awesome. But inside, it is a relic. Neither club sees a future there but getting out is proving problematic.

Read more here.