Inter Closing in on Scudetto: History awaits Cristian Chivu

With a 3-0 victory over Cagliari, while Napoli suffered a 0-2 defeat against Lazio in Serie A round 33, Inter Milan is now just 4 points away from clinching the 2025-26 league title. Coach Cristian Chivu stands before a historic milestone.

This season's Serie A title race once seemed poised to be the most tense and dramatic in history, but it may ultimately become one of the earliest and most decisive finishes. While rivals repeatedly faltered, Inter Milan has surged towards the finish line with convincing victories.

Will Inter be crowned champions this weekend?

About a month ago, Inter endured their toughest period of the season due to a slump in both form and morale. They dropped points in three consecutive Serie A matches, averaging only one goal per game. But they overcame it all to reaffirm their champion status. Inter has won their last three matches, scoring 11 goals, and after 33 rounds, they lead the rest by 12 points.

With 78 points, Nerazzurri need just 4 more points from their remaining 5 matches to officially secure their 21st Scudetto in history. That would give them 82 points, while Milan (who beat Verona 1-0 this round) and Napoli, with 66 points each, can only reach a maximum of 81 even if they win all their final 5 matches. Naturally, any points lost by Napoli or Milan will bring Inter's coronation date even sooner.

Theoretically, Inter need at least two more matches to gain the 4 points, but the Scudetto could be theirs as early as this weekend's round 34. The necessary condition is Coach Chivu's team must defeat Torino away, and the sufficient condition is both Napoli (against Cremonese) and Milan (against Juventus) fail to win. This possibility is not small, as both Napoli and Milan face their own issues. Napoli appears to lack fighting motivation having secured a safe Top 4 spot (8 points above 5th place), while Milan must battle Juventus, a formidable opponent also fighting for a Champions League spot.

Chivu poised to etch his name in history

Ten months ago, Cristian Chivu took charge of Inter under immense pressure and skepticism, but now the Romanian coach stands before a historic milestone. He will become the first person in 88 years to win the Serie A title both as a player and a manager for Inter, following the case of Armando Castellazzi, the 1934 World Cup winner, who spent his entire football career with the blue-black striped team (then named Ambrosiana-Inter).

Specifically, as a player, Castellazzi (who played for Inter for 12 years, 1924-1936) won the Serie A title in the 1929-30 season. This was the first season the Italian football championship officially bore the name Serie A after being divided into two tiers (Serie A and Serie B). That was Inter's 3rd Italian title, and their 4th, won in the 1937-38 season, came with Castellazzi in the managerial role instead of on the pitch. Castellazzi retired from playing two years earlier, at age 31, to move into coaching. To date, he remains the youngest manager (33 years old) to win the Scudetto. Notably, both those memorable titles for Castellazzi owed much to Giuseppe Meazza, Inter's greatest legend, whose name later graced the San Siro stadium. In 1929-30, Meazza (then only 19) scored 31 goals, and in 1937-38, he scored 20 goals, both times being Serie A's top scorer.

As a player, Chivu won three consecutive Scudetti with Inter from 2008 to 2010. Now, nothing can stop him from joining his predecessor Castellazzi in the proud annals of the blue-black stripes. He even has the chance to become the first in history to win both the Scudetto and the Italian Cup with Inter as both a player and a manager. Chivu won the Italian Cup twice in 2009 and 2010 and currently leads Inter to the semi-finals of this season's Italian Cup. In the away first leg of the semi-final, Inter drew 0-0 with Como. The return leg will take place tomorrow night.

  Nguyen Vinh