Updated22. April 2024, 11:40 p.m.
Football: Yann Sommer and Inter Milan crowned Italian champions
The Nerazzurri, with their Swiss goalkeeper, officially won the 20th Scudetto in their history by winning the derby against Noah Okafor’s AC Milan (1-2) this Monday.
Inter Milan won the 20th Italian championship title in its history.
AFP
After Granit Xhaka, with Bayer Leverkusen, it is the turn of Yann Sommer to be crowned champion with his club. Inter Milan, where the Basel goalkeeper plays, completed the quest for the 20th Scudetto in its history this Monday. The final icing on the cake: he sealed his coronation in front of the supporters of his rival club, AC Milan of Noah Okafor (substitute and entered in the 78th minute), beaten at San Siro in the derby (1-2).
At the first opportunity to win the Scudetto, Lautaro Martinez and his teammates responded, as they did throughout a season that they flew through. To the delight of their excited fans, the Nerazzurri won the Milan derby at San Siro, of which AC Milan was officially the host, thanks to goals from Francesco Acerbi (18th) and Marcus Thuram (49th) . The reduction of the score by Fikayo Tomori (80th) and a tense end to the match, marked by three expulsions, sent some shivers through the internal ranks. Who, however, held on.
Five days before the end of the season, they have an insurmountable lead of 17 points over AC Milan.
Second star on the jersey
Simone Inzaghi’s team made Calcio history: before her, only Juventus had reached, in 1982, the figure of twenty national titles which gives the right to embroider two golden stars on its jerseys. If Juve is far at the top of the historic Serie A list, with an astronomical total of 36 titles (and, therefore, three stars), Inter has regained the ascendancy over AC Milan, who had returned to their height in 2022 with his 19th title.
Inter’s coronation was no longer in doubt for several weeks now, as the Nerazzurri dominate their subject and their rivals have multiplied their missteps. The outgoing champion, Naples, quickly out of the equation, Inter spent almost the entire season in the lead, leaving only crumbs to AC Milan (only leader after the 8th day) and Juventus, briefly in head after the 21st day.
While Inter had a string of victories (including a series of ten in a row between January and March), AC Milan compromised their chances in the fall, while Juve lost their footing during the first quarter of 2024 by pocketing seven small points in nine matches.
For his part, Inzaghi has set up a formidable winning machine: his team has only conceded one defeat in the league, against the modest Sassuolo team at San Siro (1-2) on September 27. His record is impressive: 27 victories in 33 matches with – by far – the best attack (79 goals scored) and defense (18 conceded) in Serie A.
Express adaptation of recruits
He owes a lot to Lautaro Martinez, promoted this season to captain and top scorer in the championship (23 goals), but also to a newcomer with a surname already well known in Serie A, Marcus Thuram. Arriving last summer from Mönchengladbach, the French international and son of Lilian, who played for Parma (1996-2001) and Juventus (2001-06), had no problem adapting, as his 12 goals prove and 7 assists in the league.
Inter also had a hollow nose by betting on Yann Sommer (19 matches without conceding a goal in the league) and the Frenchman Benjamin Pavard to strengthen their defense. With Hakan Calhanoglu and Henrix Mkhitaryan at the helm in the midfield, Inter can still break some records by the end of the season.
Her fantastic 2023-2024 season will, however, remain tainted by her elimination by Atletico Madrid in the round of 16 of the Champions League – in which she played in the final in 2023 – and the accusations of racist insult during a match which were aimed Acerbi, finally exonerated by the Italian Federation.
On the pitch at least, the future looks bright: Inzaghi and Martinez will extend, the arrivals of Mehdi Taremi (Porto) and Piotr Zielinski (Naples) have already been finalized. Behind the scenes, it is much more vague: Inter, forced to sell to recruit, reduced its losses in 2022-2023 but they still amounted to 85 million euros. Its owner since 2016, the Chinese group Suning of businessman Steven Zhang, is increasing its borrowing to try to keep its head above water: it has just reached an agreement with an American fund to repay a loan of 375 million euros contracted with the Oaktree fund.
On a personal level, Yann Sommer won the 11th title of his career, in his first season in Italy. Already winner of the Super League with FC Basel (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014) and the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich last year, the goalkeeper of the Swiss team also won the Challenge League with Vaduz in 2008 , as well as the Liechtenstein Cup in 2008 and 2009. Sommer’s record also includes a Swiss Cup (2012) as well as an Italian Super Cup (2023).
Bologna and its Swiss are getting closer to the Champions League
(AFP/Sport Center)