Red cards and banners – how Theo Hernandez and Dumfries developed their feud

Among the various sub-plots in Milan derby games now is the battle on the flank between Theo Hernandez and Denzel Dumfries.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport reports, fate put them in front of each other for the first time in the February 2022 derby when Olivier Giroud scored a brace and fired Milan to a massive win in their eventual Scudetto conquest.

The rivalry between Theo and Dumfries is not just any rivalry: over the last three seasons it has been bubbling away and it seems that when they meet it nearly always boils over.

Overall, the head-to-head between the two players has brought mixed fortunes also in the wake of the team’s results and it was almost always impossible to avoid direct confrontation between them given Theo is a left-back and Dumfries a right wing-back.

The coming together during the clash last Monday and the banner displayed during the Scudetto celebration are therefore not isolated and impromptu episodes, but rather the signs of a difficult relationship that has always been characterised by undeniable and explosive friction.

The first time they met the Frenchman won, but since then it is the Dutchman who has had the better in terms of results. In the first flash point, that 2-1 win for Milan in February 2022, Hernandez chased Dumfries and mowed him down from behind, getting a red card after they had squared up.

In the second episode of the saga, during the 0-0 draw in the 2021-22 Coppa Italia, it was the Milan player who got the better of that side, while in the league derby the next season Theo was better than his opponent again. The two has a coming together at the start of the match, each receiving a yellow card for the arguments.

From that point on, however, Inter’s dominance in the derby began and as a result Theo suffered terribly in these matches. Milan were eliminated from the Champions League in the semi-final and he gave away a penalty in the first derby of this season.