Inter end Juventus dynasty
MILAN: Inter Milan claimed the Serie A title on Sunday for the first time in 11 years to end Juventus’ nine-year reign in Italy.
Antonio Conte’s side clinched their 19th ‘Scudetto’ after nearest rivals Atalanta drew 1-1 at Sassuolo to leave the ‘Nerazzurri’ 13 points clear with four games remaining.
Conte had started Juventus’s record run, winning the first three titles in a streak that stretched from 2012 to 2020.
The 51-year-old took over Inter in 2019 and lifted the trophy after finishing second last season.
“I’m astonished,” said Conte. “We’re breaking up a dynasty. Not even in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that we’d make up this much ground on the team that dominated Serie A for nine years in the space of two seasons.”
Inter are now second for league trophies in Italy, one ahead of city rivals AC Milan’s 18, but still some way short of Juventus’ 36.
Juventus president Andrea Agnelli congratulated his Inter counterpart Steven Zhang on the Chinese-owned club’s success.
“Well done Steven! Happy for you and proud of being your loyal opponent on the pitch and friend off the pitch. We’ll be back,” Agnelli
wrote on Twitter.
The Lombardy side had not won Serie A since Jose Mourinho’s historic Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia treble in 2010.
Their last trophy was the Coppa Italia in 2011 and they missed out on the Champions League for six seasons before Luciano Spalletti returned them to Europe’s top club competition in 2018.
Conte is the 13th coach since Mourinho to sit on the ‘Nerazzurri’ bench and the club has changed hands twice over the past decade.
Billionaire Massimo Moratti, whose family controls Italian oil refiner Saras Group, sold to a consortium led by Indonesian business tycoon Erik Thohir in 2013, with Chinese electronics retailer Suning Holdings Group taking a majority stake in 2016.
It is the first time that a foreignowned Italian team has won the league title.
Conte has turned the team into a competitive unit again after two fourth-place finishes under Spalletti.
Despite a mixed start to this campaign, Conte found the winning formula and Saturday’s 2-0 win at Crotone stretched their unbeaten run to 18 games.