Inter Milan’s victory over AC Milan not only secured their Serie A title but also marked a significant milestone with a second star on their jersey, symbolizing their 20th Italian league title win and breaking a tie with their city rivals.
For Inter Milan, winning the derby was ultimately the icing on the cake.
“We are in a situation that has never happened before,” Lautaro Martínez, the captain of Inter, stated to the players. “We had to seize this chance because, as you can see, the stadium is now entirely ours.”
The Nerazzurri and their supporters were unfazed by the torrential rain.
Fikayo Tomori’s late goal for AC Milan threatened to stifle the celebrations after Inter’s goals from Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram, but Inter hung on to win and extend their advantage to an unassailable 17 points over second-place Milan with five rounds remaining.
A grinning Lautaro and partner Federico Dimarco ascended to the top of the goal frame at San Siro at the final whistle.
The Inter players performed wild dances in front of their supporters as flares and rockets were let off in the stands. “Repeat it to the Madonnina, who are the champions and who the crybabies,” said an Italian flag that was unfurled.
The Madonnina, the monument that atop Milan’s cathedral overlooks the city, is the inspiration behind the name of the derby.
Following eight more trophies, Simone Inzaghi won his first league championship as a head coach.
“We will always be able to win the league with five games remaining—more or less won with nine games remaining, today making it mathematically certain—in a derby, with Milan as the home team,” Inzaghi stated.
“Everyone made a very valuable contribution so that we could accomplish these kinds of goals.”
For every ten Serie A titles, one is awarded a star. Juventus is the only team with a record 36 wins, meaning that it wears three stars on its uniform.
The stars came together for Inter to win the Derby della Madonnina, another star, and Serie A on the same night at San Siro, the stadium shared by both teams, despite the rain. Only one end of the stadium was set aside for Inter’s black-and-blue-clad supporters, who were officially the away team.
Inter had triumphed in the previous five derbies, which included a 5-1 Serie A defeat of Milan earlier in the season and both legs of last year’s Champions League quarterfinal.
And in the eighteenth minute, Acerbi, who was unmarked, headed in from close range after Benjamin Pavard nodded in Federico Dimarco’s corner, giving the Nerazzurri the lead.
Seven minutes later, Lautaro should have extended Inter’s lead after he was similarly dreadfully unmarked, but the league’s top goal scorer strangely missed the target from close range.
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After Tomori’s quick run on the counterattack, Milan appeared to gain confidence, and Rafael Leão had a wonderful opportunity to tie the score, but he shot straight at Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
End-to-end play ensued, and Milan’s captain Davide Calabria also made Sommer save brilliantly toward the close of the first half.
However, Thuram’s run onto a long ball from Alessandro Bastoni over the top and his deft maneuver around his marker to cut in from the left along the area’s edge and drill into the near bottom corner less than four minutes after the restart seemed to have sealed the title.
Ten minutes from the end, Milan drew one back, setting up a tight climax. Mattia Gabbia’s header was beautifully parried by Sommer onto his post, but Tomori headed in the rebound. In a desperate attempt to secure the equalizer that would have prevented Inter from winning the championship, Tomori snatched the ball and made frantic gestures to teammates as he sprinted back to the center circle.
A brawl broke out during stoppage time as tensions escalated, resulting in the dismissal of Milan’s Theo Hernandez and Inter defender Denzel Dumfries. Five minutes later, there was another altercation, and Calabria was again given the red card.
Champions League Race
After defeating Roma 3-1, Bologna secured fourth place, handing Daniele De Rossi his second league loss as head coach of the capital team.
Bologna climbed to eight points over Atalanta and seven above fifth-place Roma, both of which are playing one other soon.
