MILAN: Inter Milan won their 20th Serie A title on Monday after a 2-1 win at AC Milan with their sixth straight derby victory giving Simone Inzaghi’s side an unassailable lead in the standings.

A goal from Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram in each half proved sufficient to secure Inter’s victory, with Fikayo Tomori scoring a late goal to reduce the deficit.

The match also witnessed three red cards in stoppage time, with Milan being reduced to nine men as tensions flared, with Theo Hernandez and Davide Calabria getting their marching orders along with Inter’s Denzel Dumfries.

Inter, who have lost only once in the league this season, hold a 17-point advantage over second-placed Milan with five matches remaining.

They last won Serie A in 2021, followed by AC Milan in 2022 and Napoli last year.

“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.”

For Simone Inzaghi it was the first league title as a manager and on a cold, soaking wet evening at the San Siro he strode proudly in front of a clutch of Inter’s “away” fans in the 75,000 crowd as they roared in delight and fired fireworks from the stands at the final whistle.

“There are so many protagonists of this success, first and foremost the players, but also the directors and chairman Steven Zhang, as anything we needed during this journey was provided for us,” Inzaghi said to DAZN. “It’s an incredible sensation, we did something incredible and its only right to share it with as many people as possible.”

Inter have become the second team to win 20 Italian league titles, and will have a second star stitched onto their jersey, after Juventus who are way out in the lead with 36 league crowns.

Inzaghi’s team did it style, laying waste to the rest of the division and becoming the first team to claim the title by winning the Milan derby and leaving his opposite number Stephano Pioli on the verge of the sack.

“He was struggling 14 months ago according to the media and look what he has achieved since. I am happy here, I work well and I think the team has margin for improvement,” insisted 2022 Scudetto winner Pioli.

With outgoing champions Napoli crashing and burning early in the campaign and Milan falling away in the autumn Inter raced off into the distance at the turn of the year.

Juve looked like putting up a fight but they collapsed in February just as Inter strung together a run of 13 wins which also gave them hope of repeating a deep run in the Champions League.

Inter failed in that mission as they were knocked out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid in mid-March, but by that time the domestic damage had already been done.

The future looks bright too as Inzaghi, Martinez and Italy midfielder Nicolo Barella are all set to renew their contracts while smart work in the transfer market and increased revenue have helped mitigate significant financial harm wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Piotr Zielinski and Mehdi Taremi will arrive from Napoli and Porto as free agents in the close season while big stars like Thuram should 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,” said Thuram.

The San Siro was packed with supporters from both clubs, with Inter fans displaying two stars to symbolise their impending 20th Scudetto, spelling out a message to their rivals: ‘Our destiny, your nightmare.’

The match heated up in the opening minutes as both sides engaged in pushing and shouting following a late challenge on Inter’s Barella. However, play resumed a few minutes later without any bookings.

After 18 minutes, the away fans erupted after Benjamin Pavard flicked a corner to a completely unmarked Acerbi, who had little trouble heading in the lead for Inter.

Four minutes after the break, Thuram doubled Inter’s lead by sending a low shot from the edge of the box into the bottom-left corner.

As the minutes ticked closer to the end, fans set off flares in the stands; the resulting smoke mixing with the persistent rain to cast a misty atmosphere around the San Siro, and just as Inter looked set to see the match out Tomori made sure it would be a grandstand finish when he headed home on the rebound.

However instead of levelling the match Milan lost their heads, with both Hernandez and Calabria receiving straight red cards in stoppage time.

Dumfries was also sent off in the closing minutes, but that will matter less to his team who danced and bounced in front of joyous fans.

BOLOGNA CLOSE IN ON CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Earlier, Bologna took a huge step towards the Champions League with an impressive 3-1 win at rivals AS Roma.

Oussama El Azzouzi’s stunning overhead kick and futher strikes from Joshua Zirkzee and Alexis Saelemaekers consolidated fourth place for Bologna, who are nearly assured of a spot in Europe’s top club competition.

Bologna played in one round of the old European Cup in 1964 but have never competed in the modern Champions League.

However that looks set to change as they sit eight points ahead of sixth-placed Atalanta, with a top-five finish enough to qualify for next season’s revamped competition.

Bologna were deserved winners in the Italian capital, outplaying Roma who looked tired after eliminating Milan from the Europa League midweek.

Missing Romelu Lukaku and with Tammy Abraham starting up front for the first time in nearly a year, Roma struggled to get going and are now looking over their shoulders at Atalanta who they lead by a single point.

Daniele De Rossi’s side now travel to Udinese on Thursday to finish their interrupted match and then go back across the country to face arch-rivals Napoli in Naples.

The first leg of their Europa League semi-final with Bayer Leverkusen then follows in Rome on May 2.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2024