MILAN, Italy (AFP) — Inter Milan sealed the Serie A title Monday after beating AC Milan 2-1 and creating an unassailable lead at the top of the league with their sixth-straight derby victory.

Goals from Francesco Acerbi and Marcus Thuram gave Inter a 17-point advantage over closest challengers Milan, and secured their 20th league crown with five matches of the season remaining.

Inter last won Serie A in 2021, followed by AC Milan in 2022 and Napoli last year.

For Simone Inzaghi it was the first league title as a manager, and on a cold, soaking wet evening at San Siro he strode proudly in front of a clutch of Inter’s “away” fans in the 75,000 crowd as they roared in delight and released fireworks from the stands at the final whistle.

Milan made a fight of it in the final moments after Fikayo Tomori pulled one back with 10 minutes remaining, but Inter held out to kick off a title party after a stormy ending to the match which featured three red cards.

“I feel like crying because we worked so hard, we deserve this joy,” said tearful Captain Lautaro Martinez.

“It’s been wonderful but we have to keep going because we’ve already won a lot of trophies and we want to win many more.”

Inter have become the second team to win 20 Italian league titles and will have a second star stitched onto their jersey, after Juventus who are way out in the lead with 36 league crowns.

Inzaghi’s team did it style, laying waste to the rest of the division and becoming the first team to claim the title by winning the Milan derby and leaving his opposite number Pioli on the verge of the sack.

With outgoing champions Napoli crashing and burning early in the campaign and Milan falling away in the autumn, Inter raced off into the distance at the turn of the year.

Juve looked like putting up a fight but they collapsed in February just as Inter strung together a run of 13 wins, which also gave them hope of repeating a deep run in the Champions League.

Inter failed in that mission as they were knocked out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid in mid-March, but by that time the domestic damage had already been done.

“Crazy feeling, crazy game. We wanted to do it for our fans, and we did it! It’s my first league title and I’m very proud of it,” said Thuram.