Inter Milan’s official Serie A title party was in full swing on Sunday as the newly-crowned champions were acclaimed by thousands throughout their city after a straightforward 2-0 win over 10-man Torino. Simone Inzaghi’s team cruised on an open-top bus tour of Milan towards the northern Italian city’s iconic, and packed, Piazza del Duomo where fans lit flares and set off fireworks in honour of their heroes who had claimed a 20th league championship with five matches to spare.
Supporters, most of whom had been denied the chance to see Inter win the Scudetto in the flesh on Monday night by beating local rivals AC Milan in a thrilling derby, lined the streets as the team crawled their way to Milan’s imposing gothic cathedral.
Those who were at the San Siro on Sunday saw Hakan Calhanoglu’s second-half double, a fine first-time strike in the 56th minute and a penalty four minutes later, earn Inter a 28th league win of the season.
Calhanoglu’s role in winning the lunchtime clash was appropriate as the Turkey captain has been key to Inter’s charge to the title, becoming one of Europe’s best deep-lying playmakers since being signed from Milan three years ago.
The 30-year-old is a hate figure for AC Milan supporters but he has rubbed his former fans’ faces in it this season, which with Euro 2024 on the horizon has probably been the best of his career.
His brace took his all-competitions goal tally for the season to 15 and extended Inter’s lead on second-placed Milan to a whopping 19 points.
“Today is a wonderful day, I don’t want to talk about that other lot (AC Milan). Today I’m going to have fun,” added Calhanoglu.
Inter were helped when Torino’s Adrien Tameze was sent off in the 49th minute for bundling over Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and once Calhanoglu bagged his second of the day the match became a sideshow.
Inzaghi’s team have pressing off-field issues like the repayment of a huge emergency loan to US investment fund Oaktree and hopes of a new stadium, but on Sunday fans were more concerned with a party that looked set to go on all night.
Abraham saves Roma
Tammy Abraham snatched a potentially crucial point in the battle to reach the Champions League with his first goal in a year which earned Roma a 2-2 draw at Napoli.
England international Abraham, who had last scored on April 29 last year, missed almost the whole of this season after tearing knee ligaments at the end of the last campaign.
But the substitute striker was on hand in the 88th minute to nod home a perfect flick-on at a corner from Evan Ndicka, who started in defence after being cleared to play following his on-pitch collapse at Udinese earlier this month.
“I told myself for the corner just get myself in the right place and luckily I was there to score,” Abraham told DAZN.
“I’ve dreamed about this moment since the beginning of the season. I had a difficult injury and it was all about getting myself ready, my mind ready.”
Roma, who took the lead in the 59th minute through Paulo Dybala’s penalty before being pegged back by Mathias Olivera’s heavily deflected strike and a late Victor Osimhen spot-kick, are fifth and in the final Champions League spot.
Daniele De Rossi’s team are four points behind fourth-placed Bologna following their 1-1 home draw with relegation-threatened Udinese.
Atalanta, who have a game in hand on all of their top-five rivals, are two points behind Roma after a simple 2-0 win over Empoli for the Bergamo-based team.
Roma have a tough end to the season with the first leg of their Europa League semi-final against German champions Bayer Leverkusen coming up on Thursday and clashes with Juventus and Atalanta among their last four league fixtures of the campaign.
“They’re unbeaten, but they’re not unbeatable,” said De Rossi of formidable Leverkusen, who haven’t lost in 46 games ahead of the midweek clash in Rome.
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