Inter Milan sealed the Serie A title on Monday after beating AC Milan 2-1 to create an unassailable lead at the top of the league with their sixth successive derby victory. Goals from Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram gave Inter a 17-point lead over nearest opponents Milan and secured their 20th league title with five games remaining in the season. Inter last won Serie A in 2021, followed by AC Milan in 2022 and Napoli last year.
For Simone Inzaghi it was his first league title as manager and on a cold, damp night at San Siro he walked proudly before a group of “visiting” Inter fans in the crowd of 75,000 as they chanted joy and fireworks were set off. from the stands to the final whistle.
Milan fought back in the closing stages after Fikayo Tomori pulled one back with 10 minutes remaining, but Inter held on to kick off their title celebration after a stormy end to the match that saw three red cards.
“I feel like crying because we worked so hard, we deserve this joy,” said tearful captain Lautaro Martinez.
“It’s been wonderful, but we have to keep going because we’ve already won a lot of trophies and we want to win many more.”
Inter became the second team to win 20 Italian league titles and will have a second star stitched on their shirt after Juventus, who are top of the league with 36 league titles.
– On style –
Inzaghi’s team did it in style, destroying the rest of the division and becoming the first team to win the title by winning the Milan derby and leaving their opponents Pioli on the brink of dismissal.
“He had been fighting for 14 months, according to the media, and look what he has achieved since then. I’m happy here, I work well and I think the team has room to improve”, insisted Pioli, winner of the Scudetto in 2022.
With defending champions Napoli crashing and burning at the start of the campaign and Milan crashing in the autumn, Inter ran away at the turn of the year.
Juve looked like they wanted to fight, but they collapsed in February, just as Inter went on a 13-game winning run, which also gave them hope of a repeat run in the Champions League.
Inter failed in that mission when they were knocked out of the Champions League by Atlético Madrid in mid-March, but by then the domestic damage had already been done.
The future also looks bright as Inzaghi, Martinez and Italian midfielder Nicolo Barella are all set to renew their contracts, while smart work in the transfer market and increased revenues have helped mitigate the significant financial damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Piotr Zielinski and Mehdi Taremi will arrive from Napoli and Porto as free agents at the end of the season, while big stars like Thuram are expected to stay.
“Crazy feeling, crazy game. We wanted to do it for our fans and we did it. It’s my first league title and I’m very proud of it,” Thuram said.
The main visiting team on Monday, Inter were on their way to the title celebration in the 18th minute when Acerbi was completely free to head in Benjamin Pavard’s shot.
– Stormy ending –
Inter should have been two points ahead seven minutes later through Lautaro Martinez, who lost his balance when Federico Dimarco’s perfect cut-back fell to the Argentine striker.
And his strike partner Thuram was equally to blame for Inter’s failure to double their lead seven minutes before half-time, firing a great chance wide following a Nicolo Barella assist.
But shortly after the break, Thuram made up for the miss with a brilliant individual goal that took his tally in his debut Serie A season to 12.
French striker Thuram received a long pass from Alessandro Bastoni on the left and finally cut inside before finding Mike Maignan’s near post.
Yann Sommer did well to stop Theo Hernandez’s accurate shot as Milan fans fired a series of flares into the stands.
The resulting smoke mixed with the persistent rain to create a hazy atmosphere around the San Siro, and just as Inter looked set to see the game out, Tomori made sure it was a grandstand finish when he headed home the rebound.
However, instead of leveling the match, Milan lost their heads, with Theo Hernandez and Davide Calabria receiving red cards straight into stoppage time.
Inter’s Denzel Dumfries was also sent off in the final minutes, but that will matter less to his team, who danced and jumped in front of jubilant fans.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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