Sometimes the mind works in strange ways.

When the draws for the Champions League second round knock-out stage were made last December, three Italian teams were drawn against three English teams. For a country like Malta, where football ties with politics in the list of subjects that are talked about, and where, like politics, the division between “English” and “Italian” supporters is right down the middle, it cannot be better.

And so, tonight and tomorrow, the first legs of the games between Inter and Manchester United, Roma and Arsenal, and Juventus and Chelsea will be played, with the return matches scheduled in a fortnight’s time. The line-up would have been complete with a Milan-Liverpool clash – a repeat of two Champions League finals in the last four years – but this year Milan are relegated to Uefa Cup football, and so the pairing was impossible.

The scope of this editorial is however not to say which of the teams are likely to go through to the quarter-finals; we leave that to the sports pages. What we would like to highlight is the way Maltese supporters are looking at the clashes between Italian and English teams – and this is where the strange way the mind works comes to light.

If the Italian and English national teams were to face each other, all the “Italian” supporters will back Italy and all the “English” fans will support England. There is no doubt about that, although today there are “English” fans who are not so sure as to whether they really want England to win the World Cup headed by an Italian coach, while for “Italian” fans, if this were to happen, the pill they would have to swallow would be less bitter.

But, when it comes to clubs, the situation is different. While each supporter will be backing his own team to qualify for the next round, it does not necessarily follow that he will support other clubs from the same nation – in other words, a Manchester United fan will be supporting the Red Devils against Inter, but will probably be backing Juventus and Roma in their games against other English sides. Likewise, an Inter fan will obviously be supporting his team, but finds it hard to back Juventus and Roma in the other matches. And so on and so forth.

This is because of the so-called “support against” culture, which is different from the normal support one gives to a particular team. In most cases, football fans have one or more teams they support against, and would never back this club not even when they play against teams from other countries.

A Liverpool fan would never support Manchester United, and the other way round. Similarly, an Inter fan would never back Milan in a European Cup game, while Milan fans hope that Inter will continue missing out on the much-coveted trophy they have failed to win since 1965.

It therefore goes without saying that there will be a lot of cross-support when the Champions League resumes this week after the winter break. You will have Liverpool fans backing Inter against Manchester United tonight, and Inter fans supporting Chelsea against Juventus tomorrow.

This phenomenon is not restricted to Malta. The support against culture is present everywhere, in particular in cities where there are two teams. Derbies are the most difficult matches in any given season, and crowd trouble is more likely to take place when two teams of the same city are playing against each other, where what it at stake is not only three points.

As football fans look forward to the continuation of the Champions Leagues as from tonight, may they keep in mind that it is only a football game – not a matter of life and death.

And, of course, may the best teams win.