MILAN-. Winning the derby ended up being the icing on the cake on a special night for Inter de Milan.
The 2-1 victory over AC Milan on Monday in the derby gave Inter Milan its 20th league title – to break the title tie with its bitter rival – and with the team finally earning the honor of having a second star on their shirts.
“I told the boys: ‘We are in a situation we have never been in,'” said Inter captain Lautaro Martínez. “We needed to take advantage of this opportunity, because look around, the whole stadium is ours now.”
Not even the heavy rain dampened the spirit of the Nerazzurri fans at San Siro, who gladly claimed their bragging rights in the city.
Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram scored and although AC Milan’s Fikayo Tomori’s goal near the end delayed the celebrations, Inter achieved victory to extend their lead at the top to 17 points over second-place Milan, with five days.
At San Siro, flares and fireworks were lit and Inter players danced loudly in front of their fans. A banner was displayed that said in Italian: “Repeat it to the Madonninas, who are the champions and who are the crybabies.”
The Madonnina is the statue that dominates the city on top of the Milan Cathedral and gives its name to the derby.
Simone Inzaghi won his first league title as a coach.
Teams earn one star on their shirts for every 10 titles in Serie A. Juventus is the only one with more, with a record of 36 titles and three stars.
It was a matter of when or if Inter would win the Serie A title and I knew that the Derby della Madonnina at San Siro – the stadium it shares with Milan – would make it more special, even though it was technically the away team and only one. side of the stadium was reserved for his followers.
In addition, Inter had won the last five derbies, including both semifinal matches in last year’s Champions League and a humiliating 5-1 defeat for Milan this season in Serie A.
Inter took the lead in the 18th minute when Benjamin Pavard sent Federico Dimarco’s corner kick to an unmarked Acerbi, who headed the ball into the back of the goal.
Argentina’s Lautaro Martínez could have doubled the lead seven minutes later, but the league’s top scorer inexplicably fired the ball over the crossbar despite being unmarked.
Milan’s confidence increased after this error and Rafael Leão had a chance to equalize almost immediately, but his shot fell into the hands of goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
Winning the title after this game seemed inevitable less than four minutes after the restart when Thuram took a long pass from Alessandro Bastoni, broke free to cut in from the left wing and fired from the edge of the area.
The finale became tense after Milan went close with 10 minutes left.
A brawl broke out in added time and Milan’s Théo Hernández and Inter’s Denzel Dumfries were sent off. Davide Calabria also received a red card minutes later due to another scuffle.
Source: AP
