Inter Milan won Serie A on Monday after beating AC Milan 2-1 and creating an unassailable lead at the top of the league with their sixth straight derby victory.
Goals from Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram gave Inter a 17-point advantage over closest challengers Milan and secured their 20th league crown with five matches of the season remaining.
Simone Inzaghi won the first league title of his managerial career on a cold, soaking wet evening at the San Siro where a clutch of Inter’s “away” fans in the 75,000 crowd roared in delight at the final whistle.
Milan made a fight of it in the final moments after Fikayo Tomori pulled one back with 10 minutes remaining but Inter held out to kick off a title party.
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.
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.
Juventus 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, captain Lautaro Martinez and Italy midfielder Nicolo Barella are all set to renew their contracts while smart work in the transfer market and increased revenue has helped mitigate significant financial harm wrought by the Covid-29 pandemic.
Piotr Zielinski and Medhi Taremi will arrive from Napoli and Porto as free agents in the close season while big stars like Marcus Thuram should stay.
Off the pitch Inter’s president Steven Zhang is trying to make sure that investment fund Oaktree don’t take control of the club with non-repayment of an emergency loan — granted in 2021 — next month.
Zhang is looking at taking out another loan with fellow US fund Pimco so that Inter can pay Oaktree loan and ensure that the club don’t wind up owned by Oaktree as Milan did with Elliott in 2018.
AFP