Inter celebrated their fourth straight Serie A title in style as they cruised to an easy 3-0 win over Siena at the San Siro on Sunday.
The scudetto, which was won in coach Jose Mourinho’s first season in charge of the nerazzurri, was wrapped up on Saturday when AC Milan lost 2-1 at Udinese, but that didn’t dampen the party atmosphere at the San Siro.
Inter began by playing champagne soccer with tricks and flicks the order of the day until the side started to knuckle down and play the type of game that has brought them success this season.
PHOTO: AP
They opened the scoring with their first real chance on 44 minutes after Siena goalkeeper Gianluca Curci beat out Mario Balotelli’s free-kick and Dejan Stankovic’s reaction shot, but he could do nothing about Esteban Cambiasso’s second follow-up.
It was a fitting goal for Inter’s defensive midfield lynch pin, who has been a vital cog this season.
Just seven minutes after the break the game was over as a meaningful contest when Balotelli beat the offside trap, rounded Curci and rolled the ball into the net with the outside of his boot.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic added the third with his 22nd league goal of his most prolific of five seasons in Italy, shooting through Curci’s legs on 76 minutes.
That even allowed Mourinho to give reserve goalkeeper Paolo Orlandoni a run out before the party began.
Meanwhile, under-fire Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri’s job slipped further from his grasp after a 2-2 home draw against Atalanta took their winless streak to seven matches.
Third placed Juve now hold a single point advantage over Fiorentina in fourth and risk missing out on automatic qualification to the Champions League group stages next season.
Only the top three in Italy earn that honor, while the fourth placed finisher must negotiate two qualifying rounds to make it to the group stages.
Fiorentina’s 1-0 home win over Sampdoria was their sixth win in seven matches and during that period they have made up 12 points on Juve.
This result, in a match played in front of an empty Stadio Olimpico as punishment for racist chants aimed at Balotelli last month, may prove a fatal blow to Ranieri’s future in Turin. However, the former Chelsea and Valencia boss remains hopeful he will be given a stay of execution, even beyond the end of the season.
“We still have two more matches and six points to play for,” he said. “They will be difficult games as we’re playing inconsistently. We have to still believe that we can finish third, but Fiorentina are also improving. We have to do our best in the next two matches and we’ll see what happens.”
Things started badly as Luca Cigarini gave Atalanta a second-minute lead before Juve replied through Vincenzo Iaquinta and Cristiano Zanetti’s spectacular long-range volley.
But a minute before the break, Maximiliano Pellegrino scored to earn the mid-table visitors a point.
Fiorentina’s victory means they are almost assured of Champions League soccer for the second year in a row after Genoa were held to a 2-2 home draw by Chievo.
La Viola lead fifth-placed Genoa by five points with two games left, but with just a point separating them from Juve, they will have their eyes on a top three place.
At the bottom, Sergio Volpi scored a crucial injury-time winner as Bologna beat Lecce 2-1 at home to boost their survival hopes and virtually condemn their visitors to Serie B.
Lecce are now bottom and five points from safety following Torino’s 2-1 win at Napoli.
Second bottom Reggina beat Cagliari 2-1, but remain four points behind Torino.
The final relegation position looks likely to be between Bologna and Torino, who are separated by one point. Torino are ahead, but Bologna have the better head-to-head record.
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