Inter win feisty Milan derby to clinch Serie A title

On the evening of April 22nd, 2024, at 9:44 PM.

On Monday, Inter Milan defeated inner-city rivals AC Milan with a score of 2-1, earning themselves the Serie A championship title. This marks the 20th time the club has won the trophy throughout their history.

Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram scored goals for Inter, one just before half-time and one just after, to start their victory against AC Milan. However, Fikayo Tomori managed to score one goal for AC Milan in the 80th minute. The players became angry towards the end of the game and one player from each team was sent off.

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Inter managed to maintain their lead until the end of the game and secured a win with an impressive 86 points, leaving Milan trailing 17 points behind with only five remaining games in the season.

Lautaro Martínez, the captain of Inter, said to his teammates, "We are in a unique situation that we have never been in before." He advised them to make the most out of the situation as they had the stadium entirely to themselves.

When the game ended, a joyful Martinez and fellow player Federico Dimarco jumped onto the highest part of the goal at San Siro.

In the stadium, there were bright lights and explosive displays of flares and fireworks, as the Inter team celebrated with their enthusiastic fans. They were also seen dancing energetically, while a large banner, written in Italian, was displayed proudly. The message on the banner declared that Inter were the champions, and the opposing team were merely crybabies.

The Madonnina sculpture is situated on the peak of the Milan Cathedral, and it provides a panoramic view of the city. This is the inspiration behind the name of the derby.

Simone Inzaghi has finally won his very first league championship as a coach after earning eight other awards.

Inzaghi expressed his delight at winning the league with five matches left, which was practically secured with nine matches remaining. The victory was sealed mathematically after a derby match, with Milan playing as the home team. He added that this achievement would always be remembered.

"Each individual made an immense contribution, enabling us to achieve such admirable objectives."

Inter were crowned champions in the 2020-21 campaign, however, they were unable to reproduce their impressive performance over the next two seasons, with Milan and Napoli emerging as victorious in 2021-22 and 2022-23 correspondingly.

During this season, Inzaghi's team has been extremely successful, having achieved a dominant campaign. They have scored the highest number of goals in Serie A and their defence is also remarkable for being the toughest one.

Lautaro made an amazing comeback and helped the Nerazzurri's offense by scoring 23 goals. He is currently in the lead for the Capocannoniere title, while Marcus Thuram and Hakan Calhanoglu have both scored more than 10 goals.

Inzaghi used the wing-back system, which was successful in stopping opponents. The stability from Benjamin Pavard, Alessandro Bastoni, and Stefan de Vrij provided room for Dimarco and Denzel Dumfries to drive up the field.

Inter have succeeded in surpassing Milan for the most Italian league titles with their recent victory. Prior to this season, both teams were tied at 19 titles. However, Juventus continues to dominate the league with an astounding 36 championship wins.

Each Serie A championship earns a star, and Juventus is the top dog with three. They've nabbed a whopping 36 titles, leaving all other clubs in the dust.

For quite some time, it was a question of when, not if Inter would emerge as the winner of Serie A. They were aware that sealing the victory in the Derby della Madonnina at San Siro, the stadium they share with Milan, would be especially meaningful. It is important to note that even though they were technically playing as the away team and only one end of the stadium was allotted for their supporters wearing black and blue colors.

In addition, Inter has emerged victorious in the previous five derby matches. This includes their triumphs in both legs of the Champions League semifinals last year, as well as their overwhelming 5-1 win against Milan this season in the Serie A.

In the 18th minute of the match, Inter gained advantage by scoring the first goal. Pavard headed the ball on a corner taken by Dimarco, and Acerbi, who was not marked, was able to head it in from a close distance.

Martinez missed a huge opportunity to increase Inter's lead by two goals after just seven minutes. Surprisingly, the leading goal scorer in the league missed an easy shot from close range despite being unmarked.

Milan appeared to become more self-assured after that unsuccessful attempt, and Rafael Leão was presented with a splendid opportunity to equalize. Tomori swiftly advanced on the counter-attack, but Leão's shot was aimed right at Inter's goalkeeper, Yann Sommer.

Thuram nearly increased Inter's advantage, but his attempt grazed the exterior of the distant post.

The game was full of exciting and constant action, and the skipper of Milan, Davide Calabria, also tried to score but Sommer made an excellent save towards the end of the initial half.

It appeared highly likely that they would win the championship in less than four minutes into the game's second half. Thuram received a long pass from Bastoni and tricked his opponent by moving past him to enter the left side of the field's edge. He then proceeded to aim for the bottom corner close to the goal and score.

The end of the match was quite stressful as Milan scored a goal with only 10 minutes to go. Sommer made a great save by deflecting Matteo Gabbia's header onto the post, but Tomori managed to score from the rebound. He then quickly grabbed the ball and signaled to his teammates, urgently wanting to tie things up and prevent Inter from winning the championship.

A fight erupted during the last moments of the game between Milan and Inter, causing tempers to rise. Both Theo Hernandez of Milan and Denzel Dumfries of Inter were given red cards for their involvement in the scuffle. Shortly after, following another altercation, Calabria was also shown a red card.

This story incorporates details obtained from the Associated Press.