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Inter end Juve dominance with first title in over a decade

Inter Milan fans crowd Piazza Duomo square in front of the gothic cathedral after Inter Milan won their first Serie A title in more than a decade after second-placed Atalanta drew 1-1 at Sassuolo. Credit: AP Expand

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Inter Milan fans crowd Piazza Duomo square in front of the gothic cathedral after Inter Milan won their first Serie A title in more than a decade after second-placed Atalanta drew 1-1 at Sassuolo. Credit: AP

Inter Milan fans crowd Piazza Duomo square in front of the gothic cathedral after Inter Milan won their first Serie A title in more than a decade after second-placed Atalanta drew 1-1 at Sassuolo. Credit: AP

Inter Milan fans crowd Piazza Duomo square in front of the gothic cathedral after Inter Milan won their first Serie A title in more than a decade after second-placed Atalanta drew 1-1 at Sassuolo. Credit: AP

For the first time since a certain Italian was in charge of the Irish football team, the Serie A title has been won by a side that isn’t Juventus. And the Bianconeri’s dominance of Italian domestic football has ended in a similar way to how it began – Antonio Conte, now Inter Milan ’s manager, leading a squad to a drought-ending championship as traditional rivals falter.

In 2012, Juventus won the league (officially) for the first time in nine years as Inter could only build enough strength to finish sixth, despite winning the treble two years previously. But this year Conte’s Inter are the ones running away with the title as Juventus are struggling to make next season’s Champions League.

The title was sealed after second-placed Atalanta could only get a 1-1 draw at Sassuolo yesterday, leaving Inter 13 points clear at the top of the table with just four matches left to play. Inter, 2-0 winners at Crotone on Saturday, have now been crowned champions of Italy for the first time since 2010, ending Juventus' nine years of dominance.

Meanwhile, two late goals from Cristiano Ronaldo earned Juve a 2-1 comeback win against Udinese to give the Turin club a precious three points in the Serie A top-four race.

The visiting defence was caught napping when Udinese wing-back Nahuel Molina latched onto a quickly-taken free-kick to fire home the opener after 10 minutes. But Rodrigo De Paul stuck out an arm to block a Ronaldo free-kick with seven minutes remaining and the Portuguese converted the resulting penalty to end his run of three games without a goal.

Ronaldo then headed in an 89th-minute winner from close range to take Juve into third place on 69 points, level with Atalanta in second and AC Milan in fourth, but two points ahead of fifth-placed Napoli.

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