Hakimi’s Inter Milan win Serie A title as Sassuolo hold Atalanta

Achraf Hakimi’s Inter Milan have won the 2020-21 Italian Serie A title with four matches to spare.

Antonio Conte’s Black and Blues sealed their triumph following Atalanta’s 1-1 draw with Sassuolo at the Mapei Stadium.

Having in mind that a win would deny Inter the diadem on Sunday, the Goddess travelled to the Black and Greens full of high hope – having in mind they decimated Bologna 5-0 on their last time out.

Their aspiration of getting all three points was dealt a massive blow as Pierluigi Gollini was given his marching orders in the 23rd minute.

The Italian goalkeeper was sent off by referee Luca Pairetto for tripping goal-bound Cote d’Ivoire midfielder Jeremie Boga.

Despite playing a man down, the visitors took the lead in the 32nd minute courtesy of Robin Gosens. Having collected a pass from Ruslan Malinovsky, the German defender fired past goalkeeper Andrea Consigli.

Seven minutes into the second half, Domenico Berardi leveled matters for the hosts via a penalty kick. On loan Empoli midfielder Hamed Traore was brought down in the box by Rafael Toloi with the Italian forward sending the ensuing kick past goalkeeper Marco Sportiello.

Atalanta got a lifeline in the 74th minute when they were awarded a penalty after Marlon – who was subsequently sent off for a second caution – pulled down a goal-bound Luis Muriel.

Muriel took the resultant kick but was saved by Consigli who cleared the ball with his leg.

At the end of full time, the game ended on a no winner no vanquished note and that put an end to Atalanta’s title chase.

With this, Inter Milan who silenced Simeon Nwankwo’s Crotone 2-0 on Saturday where Hakimi was among the goalscorers, have now won the Italian elite division diadem for the first time since the 2009–10 campaign.

Since joining the Giuseppe Meazza giants on July 2, 2020, from Real Madrid on a five-year contract of around €40 million. The African has been a key figure in Conte’s squad.

In the ongoing campaign, the 22-year-old who began his career at Ofigevi played in 33 league games with seven goals to his credit.