Milan's Juve fan club proud to be different

By Mark Meadows

MILAN (Reuters) - Real Madrid fans from Barcelona are seldom seen and Manchester United supporters born in Liverpool are just as rare.

In Milan, though, a Juventus supporters' club is thriving with around 630 members.

They meet in relative secret, with no Juve shirts in sight, but every other week about 100 of the group troop off to Turin an hour away and expose their black and white hearts.

On Sunday, members will have to be extra careful as they share the motorway and Turin train-line with Inter Milan fans. The leaders are visiting title-chasing Juve.

The fan club is called Madunina, a fortunate name as it does not include the word Milan, something which could further anger Inter and AC Milan fans already aghast that fellow Milanese would dare support old enemy Juventus.

The football rivalry is so intense that anyone going against the grain and supporting the other team risks jocular banter from work colleagues at best.

Verbal abuse and physical harm can happen though, prompting the question of why they put themselves through it when they have two perfectly good teams on their doorstep.

"The history of Juve is written in letters of gold on the roll-call of glory and victory. Juve will always be and when the other teams are no longer, Juve will still be there," Madunina member Guido Secreto told Reuters.