ROME: Seven straight wins. Six straight without conceding. Eleven straight unbeaten.

Inter Milan concluded the year with a 1-0 win over Torino on Wednesday to confirm their control of Serie A and intention of securing consecutive titles.

While Inter had already secured the lead for the seasons halfway point entering the holiday break, it was a welcome victory a day after the club’s offices were raided by finance police amid an ongoing investigation into false accounting.

Denzel Dumfries scored from the edge of area to conclude a counterattack after taking a backheel pass from Edin Dzeko during the first half at the San Siro. It was the third goal in four matches for the Netherlands right-back.

“We’re happy with how we’ve ended the year. It’s easy for everyone to say that Inter is the favorite but that wasn’t the case in the summer,” first-year Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said, recalling the doubts surrounding the club following the departures of previous coach Antonio Conte and standout players Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi. “The club did well to get players useful for my style of play.”

AC Milan stayed in touch with the summit, a 4-2 win at Empoli moving them into second after Napoli’s shock 1-0 home defeat to struggling Spezia.

Stefano Pioli’s side stayed four points behind city rivals Inter heading into the winter break thanks to Franck Kessie’s first-half brace and further goals from Alessandro Florenzi and Theo Hernandez.

The win allowed Milan to reclaim second spot from Napoli after their controversial loss at the hands of Luciano Spalletti’s team at the weekend and leaves the seven-time European champions as the principle pretenders to Inter’s Serie A crown.

“Every win is worth three points but there are moments in the season when certain victories have a bigger impact than others and tonight was one of them so I’m very happy,” said Pioli to DAZN.

Milan are three points ahead of third-placed Napoli who, still afflicted by a host of absences, were sunk by a Juan Jesus own goal in the 37th minute which ended Spezia’s run of six matches without a win and moves them five points away from the relegation zone in 17th.

A fine team display in Tuscany meanwhile blew away some of the dark clouds hovering over Milan following their humiliating flop in the Champions League and just two wins in their previous seven league matches which allowed red-hot Inter to take the initiative in the title race.

Kessie opened the scoring with a first-time strike from Olivier Giroud’s lay-off in the 12th minute but it looked like it would be another uncomfortable night for Milan when Nedim Bajrami levelled only six minutes later.

However Kessie, who was denied a last-gasp equaliser against Napoli by VAR on Sunday, reestablished the away side’s lead shortly before the break with a low drive from a tight angle which fizzed between Guglielmo Vicario’s legs.

Two quick-fire strikes midway through the second ensured the points for Milan, with Florenzi scoring his first Rossoneri goal from a 63rd-minute free-kick before Hernandez lashed home the fourth from close range.

Andrea Pinamonti’s penalty six minutes form the end made no difference to the result.

AS Roma missed the chance to close the gap on the Champions League places after a 1-1 draw with Sampdoria at the Stadio Olimpico.

Jose Mourinho’s side thought they were set to move four points behind fourth-placed Atalanta when Eldor Shomurodov drilled home the opener in the 72nd minute.

But Manolo Gabbiadini snatched a point with his fifth goal in as many matches eight minutes later to move Samp nine clear of the relegation zone and leave Roma sixth on 32 points.

The capital club are level with Fiorentina who sit seventh after only managing a 1-1 draw at Verona, with Kevin Lasagna giving the hosts a 17th minute lead before Gaetano Castrovilli levelled nine minutes from the end with a spectacular diving header.

Lazio won 3-1 at Venezia despite missing striker Ciro Immobile, who has the coronavirus. Pedro, Francesco Acerbi and Luis Alberto scored for the Roman club.

Also, Bologna won 3-0 at Sassuolo with goals from Riccardo Orsolini, Aaron Hickey and Federico Santander.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2021