The boom that greets Davide Frattesi’s winning goal is like the roar of a jet engine. People are jumping, hugging, screaming with joy. It is mayhem. Limbs everywhere. And drums. A deafening cacophony in a sea of blue shirts. A man on the loudhailer wails, “Il marcatore del secondo gol dell’Inter… Davide…” And everyone cries out, “Frat-te-si!”
But this isn’t the Curva Nord at San Siro. It isn’t even Milan. This is Inter Club London at the Fox on the Green in Islington. I had been warned. “Expect a lot of noise,” Paolo Liuzzi, the club president, had told me. “I’m sure you’re gonna enjoy.”
And now I’m beginning to understand why I needed a ticket just to go to the pub. Inter Milan are visiting Bayern München in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, but this is no routine screening of the football. This is the full Inter fan experience. Among Nerazzurri diehards, it’s the hottest ticket in town.
“This place has a security limit of 80 people,” Paolo had said in the build-up to the game. “Obviously, we’re gonna be more, so we rented the room downstairs as well. This place will be full, you’ll see. It’s fantastic.”
Paolo is the president of the UK capital’s only official Inter fan club. A 37-year-old car designer from Lake Como who came to London in 2019, he was looking for a team to play football with and somewhere to watch his beloved Nerazzurri. Back then, Inter Club London – originally founded in 2005 – would meet at Casa Italiana in Clerkenwell, a traditional Italian setting Paolo describes as a “parish where you open the door and you go into the past”.
But, over the last two years, Paolo has sought to modernise the group and engage a younger audience. From coffee, cards and chitter-chatter, the vibe is now Peroni, drums and singing. The fans convene in this Victorian pub, its upstairs room adorned with black and blue flags and banners. “We want to create a community of people who are missing a little bit of a part of their lives – family, friends they left back home,” he says. “It’s a nice excuse to be together, because we’re about more than just the airing of matches.”
Members of Inter Club, of which there are 673, can also get tickets to watch their team at San Siro, but Paolo is referring to something more. “The idea is to create an atmosphere where you feel comfortable sharing with others. The people here are now friends; some now work together. I used to share a flat with a guy I met at Inter Club. We get together. We have fun.”
It is not a men-only affair either. “We have been working hard on that. It’s not always easy for a woman to join somewhere like this by herself, but we make sure the atmosphere is super-positive. It’s lovely.” It’s also not for the faint-hearted. “We are very much into it in a vocal way,” laughs Paolo. “It’s loud, it’s fun and it’s young.” Indeed, the singing and drumming start long before kick-off as one supporter standing on a chair leads the throng in a chorus of fan chant Internazionale Devi Vincere.
The boom that greets Davide Frattesi’s winning goal is like the roar of a jet engine. People are jumping, hugging, screaming with joy. It is mayhem. Limbs everywhere. And drums. A deafening cacophony in a sea of blue shirts. A man on the loudhailer wails, “Il marcatore del secondo gol dell’Inter… Davide…” And everyone cries out, “Frat-te-si!”
But this isn’t the Curva Nord at San Siro. It isn’t even Milan. This is Inter Club London at the Fox on the Green in Islington. I had been warned. “Expect a lot of noise,” Paolo Liuzzi, the club president, had told me. “I’m sure you’re gonna enjoy.”
And now I’m beginning to understand why I needed a ticket just to go to the pub. Inter Milan are visiting Bayern München in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, but this is no routine screening of the football. This is the full Inter fan experience. Among Nerazzurri diehards, it’s the hottest ticket in town.
“This place has a security limit of 80 people,” Paolo had said in the build-up to the game. “Obviously, we’re gonna be more, so we rented the room downstairs as well. This place will be full, you’ll see. It’s fantastic.”
Paolo is the president of the UK capital’s only official Inter fan club. A 37-year-old car designer from Lake Como who came to London in 2019, he was looking for a team to play football with and somewhere to watch his beloved Nerazzurri. Back then, Inter Club London – originally founded in 2005 – would meet at Casa Italiana in Clerkenwell, a traditional Italian setting Paolo describes as a “parish where you open the door and you go into the past”.
But, over the last two years, Paolo has sought to modernise the group and engage a younger audience. From coffee, cards and chitter-chatter, the vibe is now Peroni, drums and singing. The fans convene in this Victorian pub, its upstairs room adorned with black and blue flags and banners. “We want to create a community of people who are missing a little bit of a part of their lives – family, friends they left back home,” he says. “It’s a nice excuse to be together, because we’re about more than just the airing of matches.”
Members of Inter Club, of which there are 673, can also get tickets to watch their team at San Siro, but Paolo is referring to something more. “The idea is to create an atmosphere where you feel comfortable sharing with others. The people here are now friends; some now work together. I used to share a flat with a guy I met at Inter Club. We get together. We have fun.”
It is not a men-only affair either. “We have been working hard on that. It’s not always easy for a woman to join somewhere like this by herself, but we make sure the atmosphere is super-positive. It’s lovely.” It’s also not for the faint-hearted. “We are very much into it in a vocal way,” laughs Paolo. “It’s loud, it’s fun and it’s young.” Indeed, the singing and drumming start long before kick-off as one supporter standing on a chair leads the throng in a chorus of fan chant Internazionale Devi Vincere.
As the line-ups appear on the big screen, another produces a loudhailer and reads out the first names of the players, like the MC at San Siro. The crowd responds with the surnames. The atmosphere is approaching fever pitch.
Paolo can barely be heard above the din, and certainly not when Lautaro Martínez puts Inter in front after 38 minutes. The party is in full swing. Downstairs, meanwhile, the pub has been divided between Inter and Arsenal fans who have come to watch their team tackle Real Madrid in the other quarter-final taking place a short trip up the road.
Soon it is their turn to lose their minds as Declan Rice scores two free-kicks for the ages and Mikel Merino makes it 3-0. In the red half of the pub, there is general incredulity and merriment as “Are you Tottenham in disguise?” rings out.
Back upstairs, the drumming and chanting have been constant until, with five minutes to go, you can suddenly hear a pin drop. Thomas Müller has let the air out of the balloon with a late leveller for Bayern. For the first time this evening, silence falls.
But it is not quiet for long. Frattesi sees to that.
At the final whistle, everyone is giddy with happiness. Paolo embraces friends as the pub empties its patrons onto Upper Street, all from different walks of life but with one thing in common. “The beauty of Inter Club is it brings everyone to the same level. We’ve had politicians here and they sing along just the same as me. Everyone is equal – we share the same passion. Whether you wash dishes for a living or work in finance, nobody cares. We are one.”
And they will be united again for the return leg. Paolo refuses to jinx the result with a prediction, but he is sure of one thing: “Next week, it’s gonna be even louder.”
The boom that greets Davide Frattesi’s winning goal is like the roar of a jet engine. People are jumping, hugging, screaming with joy. It is mayhem. Limbs everywhere. And drums. A deafening cacophony in a sea of blue shirts. A man on the loudhailer wails, “Il marcatore del secondo gol dell’Inter… Davide…” And everyone cries out, “Frat-te-si!”
But this isn’t the Curva Nord at San Siro. It isn’t even Milan. This is Inter Club London at the Fox on the Green in Islington. I had been warned. “Expect a lot of noise,” Paolo Liuzzi, the club president, had told me. “I’m sure you’re gonna enjoy.”
And now I’m beginning to understand why I needed a ticket just to go to the pub. Inter Milan are visiting Bayern München in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, but this is no routine screening of the football. This is the full Inter fan experience. Among Nerazzurri diehards, it’s the hottest ticket in town.
“This place has a security limit of 80 people,” Paolo had said in the build-up to the game. “Obviously, we’re gonna be more, so we rented the room downstairs as well. This place will be full, you’ll see. It’s fantastic.”
Paolo is the president of the UK capital’s only official Inter fan club. A 37-year-old car designer from Lake Como who came to London in 2019, he was looking for a team to play football with and somewhere to watch his beloved Nerazzurri. Back then, Inter Club London – originally founded in 2005 – would meet at Casa Italiana in Clerkenwell, a traditional Italian setting Paolo describes as a “parish where you open the door and you go into the past”.
But, over the last two years, Paolo has sought to modernise the group and engage a younger audience. From coffee, cards and chitter-chatter, the vibe is now Peroni, drums and singing. The fans convene in this Victorian pub, its upstairs room adorned with black and blue flags and banners. “We want to create a community of people who are missing a little bit of a part of their lives – family, friends they left back home,” he says. “It’s a nice excuse to be together, because we’re about more than just the airing of matches.”
Members of Inter Club, of which there are 673, can also get tickets to watch their team at San Siro, but Paolo is referring to something more. “The idea is to create an atmosphere where you feel comfortable sharing with others. The people here are now friends; some now work together. I used to share a flat with a guy I met at Inter Club. We get together. We have fun.”
It is not a men-only affair either. “We have been working hard on that. It’s not always easy for a woman to join somewhere like this by herself, but we make sure the atmosphere is super-positive. It’s lovely.” It’s also not for the faint-hearted. “We are very much into it in a vocal way,” laughs Paolo. “It’s loud, it’s fun and it’s young.” Indeed, the singing and drumming start long before kick-off as one supporter standing on a chair leads the throng in a chorus of fan chant Internazionale Devi Vincere.
The boom that greets Davide Frattesi’s winning goal is like the roar of a jet engine. People are jumping, hugging, screaming with joy. It is mayhem. Limbs everywhere. And drums. A deafening cacophony in a sea of blue shirts. A man on the loudhailer wails, “Il marcatore del secondo gol dell’Inter… Davide…” And everyone cries out, “Frat-te-si!”
But this isn’t the Curva Nord at San Siro. It isn’t even Milan. This is Inter Club London at the Fox on the Green in Islington. I had been warned. “Expect a lot of noise,” Paolo Liuzzi, the club president, had told me. “I’m sure you’re gonna enjoy.”
And now I’m beginning to understand why I needed a ticket just to go to the pub. Inter Milan are visiting Bayern München in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, but this is no routine screening of the football. This is the full Inter fan experience. Among Nerazzurri diehards, it’s the hottest ticket in town.
“This place has a security limit of 80 people,” Paolo had said in the build-up to the game. “Obviously, we’re gonna be more, so we rented the room downstairs as well. This place will be full, you’ll see. It’s fantastic.”
Paolo is the president of the UK capital’s only official Inter fan club. A 37-year-old car designer from Lake Como who came to London in 2019, he was looking for a team to play football with and somewhere to watch his beloved Nerazzurri. Back then, Inter Club London – originally founded in 2005 – would meet at Casa Italiana in Clerkenwell, a traditional Italian setting Paolo describes as a “parish where you open the door and you go into the past”.
But, over the last two years, Paolo has sought to modernise the group and engage a younger audience. From coffee, cards and chitter-chatter, the vibe is now Peroni, drums and singing. The fans convene in this Victorian pub, its upstairs room adorned with black and blue flags and banners. “We want to create a community of people who are missing a little bit of a part of their lives – family, friends they left back home,” he says. “It’s a nice excuse to be together, because we’re about more than just the airing of matches.”
Members of Inter Club, of which there are 673, can also get tickets to watch their team at San Siro, but Paolo is referring to something more. “The idea is to create an atmosphere where you feel comfortable sharing with others. The people here are now friends; some now work together. I used to share a flat with a guy I met at Inter Club. We get together. We have fun.”
It is not a men-only affair either. “We have been working hard on that. It’s not always easy for a woman to join somewhere like this by herself, but we make sure the atmosphere is super-positive. It’s lovely.” It’s also not for the faint-hearted. “We are very much into it in a vocal way,” laughs Paolo. “It’s loud, it’s fun and it’s young.” Indeed, the singing and drumming start long before kick-off as one supporter standing on a chair leads the throng in a chorus of fan chant Internazionale Devi Vincere.
The boom that greets Davide Frattesi’s winning goal is like the roar of a jet engine. People are jumping, hugging, screaming with joy. It is mayhem. Limbs everywhere. And drums. A deafening cacophony in a sea of blue shirts. A man on the loudhailer wails, “Il marcatore del secondo gol dell’Inter… Davide…” And everyone cries out, “Frat-te-si!”
But this isn’t the Curva Nord at San Siro. It isn’t even Milan. This is Inter Club London at the Fox on the Green in Islington. I had been warned. “Expect a lot of noise,” Paolo Liuzzi, the club president, had told me. “I’m sure you’re gonna enjoy.”
And now I’m beginning to understand why I needed a ticket just to go to the pub. Inter Milan are visiting Bayern München in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, but this is no routine screening of the football. This is the full Inter fan experience. Among Nerazzurri diehards, it’s the hottest ticket in town.
“This place has a security limit of 80 people,” Paolo had said in the build-up to the game. “Obviously, we’re gonna be more, so we rented the room downstairs as well. This place will be full, you’ll see. It’s fantastic.”
Paolo is the president of the UK capital’s only official Inter fan club. A 37-year-old car designer from Lake Como who came to London in 2019, he was looking for a team to play football with and somewhere to watch his beloved Nerazzurri. Back then, Inter Club London – originally founded in 2005 – would meet at Casa Italiana in Clerkenwell, a traditional Italian setting Paolo describes as a “parish where you open the door and you go into the past”.
But, over the last two years, Paolo has sought to modernise the group and engage a younger audience. From coffee, cards and chitter-chatter, the vibe is now Peroni, drums and singing. The fans convene in this Victorian pub, its upstairs room adorned with black and blue flags and banners. “We want to create a community of people who are missing a little bit of a part of their lives – family, friends they left back home,” he says. “It’s a nice excuse to be together, because we’re about more than just the airing of matches.”
Members of Inter Club, of which there are 673, can also get tickets to watch their team at San Siro, but Paolo is referring to something more. “The idea is to create an atmosphere where you feel comfortable sharing with others. The people here are now friends; some now work together. I used to share a flat with a guy I met at Inter Club. We get together. We have fun.”
It is not a men-only affair either. “We have been working hard on that. It’s not always easy for a woman to join somewhere like this by herself, but we make sure the atmosphere is super-positive. It’s lovely.” It’s also not for the faint-hearted. “We are very much into it in a vocal way,” laughs Paolo. “It’s loud, it’s fun and it’s young.” Indeed, the singing and drumming start long before kick-off as one supporter standing on a chair leads the throng in a chorus of fan chant Internazionale Devi Vincere.
As the line-ups appear on the big screen, another produces a loudhailer and reads out the first names of the players, like the MC at San Siro. The crowd responds with the surnames. The atmosphere is approaching fever pitch.
Paolo can barely be heard above the din, and certainly not when Lautaro Martínez puts Inter in front after 38 minutes. The party is in full swing. Downstairs, meanwhile, the pub has been divided between Inter and Arsenal fans who have come to watch their team tackle Real Madrid in the other quarter-final taking place a short trip up the road.
Soon it is their turn to lose their minds as Declan Rice scores two free-kicks for the ages and Mikel Merino makes it 3-0. In the red half of the pub, there is general incredulity and merriment as “Are you Tottenham in disguise?” rings out.
Back upstairs, the drumming and chanting have been constant until, with five minutes to go, you can suddenly hear a pin drop. Thomas Müller has let the air out of the balloon with a late leveller for Bayern. For the first time this evening, silence falls.
But it is not quiet for long. Frattesi sees to that.
At the final whistle, everyone is giddy with happiness. Paolo embraces friends as the pub empties its patrons onto Upper Street, all from different walks of life but with one thing in common. “The beauty of Inter Club is it brings everyone to the same level. We’ve had politicians here and they sing along just the same as me. Everyone is equal – we share the same passion. Whether you wash dishes for a living or work in finance, nobody cares. We are one.”
And they will be united again for the return leg. Paolo refuses to jinx the result with a prediction, but he is sure of one thing: “Next week, it’s gonna be even louder.”
The boom that greets Davide Frattesi’s winning goal is like the roar of a jet engine. People are jumping, hugging, screaming with joy. It is mayhem. Limbs everywhere. And drums. A deafening cacophony in a sea of blue shirts. A man on the loudhailer wails, “Il marcatore del secondo gol dell’Inter… Davide…” And everyone cries out, “Frat-te-si!”
But this isn’t the Curva Nord at San Siro. It isn’t even Milan. This is Inter Club London at the Fox on the Green in Islington. I had been warned. “Expect a lot of noise,” Paolo Liuzzi, the club president, had told me. “I’m sure you’re gonna enjoy.”
And now I’m beginning to understand why I needed a ticket just to go to the pub. Inter Milan are visiting Bayern München in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, but this is no routine screening of the football. This is the full Inter fan experience. Among Nerazzurri diehards, it’s the hottest ticket in town.
“This place has a security limit of 80 people,” Paolo had said in the build-up to the game. “Obviously, we’re gonna be more, so we rented the room downstairs as well. This place will be full, you’ll see. It’s fantastic.”
Paolo is the president of the UK capital’s only official Inter fan club. A 37-year-old car designer from Lake Como who came to London in 2019, he was looking for a team to play football with and somewhere to watch his beloved Nerazzurri. Back then, Inter Club London – originally founded in 2005 – would meet at Casa Italiana in Clerkenwell, a traditional Italian setting Paolo describes as a “parish where you open the door and you go into the past”.
But, over the last two years, Paolo has sought to modernise the group and engage a younger audience. From coffee, cards and chitter-chatter, the vibe is now Peroni, drums and singing. The fans convene in this Victorian pub, its upstairs room adorned with black and blue flags and banners. “We want to create a community of people who are missing a little bit of a part of their lives – family, friends they left back home,” he says. “It’s a nice excuse to be together, because we’re about more than just the airing of matches.”
Members of Inter Club, of which there are 673, can also get tickets to watch their team at San Siro, but Paolo is referring to something more. “The idea is to create an atmosphere where you feel comfortable sharing with others. The people here are now friends; some now work together. I used to share a flat with a guy I met at Inter Club. We get together. We have fun.”
It is not a men-only affair either. “We have been working hard on that. It’s not always easy for a woman to join somewhere like this by herself, but we make sure the atmosphere is super-positive. It’s lovely.” It’s also not for the faint-hearted. “We are very much into it in a vocal way,” laughs Paolo. “It’s loud, it’s fun and it’s young.” Indeed, the singing and drumming start long before kick-off as one supporter standing on a chair leads the throng in a chorus of fan chant Internazionale Devi Vincere.
