Inter's memorable season...The beginning of a new era?

Today, long-time leaders Inter could be crowned champions for the 15th time in their glorious history if they beat nearest pursuers Roma at the San Siro stadium.

The Nerazzurri have taken the Serie A by storm and led from the word go perhaps signalling the start of a bright new dawn for the club.

The two teams who were freely mentioned in the off-season with a challenge for the title, Roma and Milan, were no match to Inter's high standards.

Notwithstanding their supremacy, there are some who try to undermine Inter's success. The sceptics sustain that had Juve played in the top flight and Milan started without an eight-point handicap for their involvement in the soccer scandal, then the contest would have evolved in a completely different way.

But, Inter have been showing clear signs of improvement ever since Roberto Mancini took over as coach in 2004.

In his first two years in charge, Mancini could only claim two Coppa Italia titles and two Italian Super Cups as they failed to match Juventus and Milan in consistency for most of the season. Indeed, Milan and Juventus were winning matches even when they were not up to their best as Inter finished third twice in 2005 and 2006.

However, everything turned around after the notorious match-fixing scandal came to the fore almost a year ago. The two championships which Juve had won were taken away from the 'Old Lady'. One of them was unassigned by the federation whereas that of last year was awarded to Inter.

There were those, including major club shareholder Massimo Moratti, who sustained that Inter fully deserved the 2005 'title'.

Others, even from within Moratti's clan, claimed that even though Juve officials had used illicit ways and means to win, a scudetto won on the table did not have the same effect like winning it on the field of play.

These contrasting lines of thought remained predominant during the ongoing season.

Some contend that Inter did not have any true challengers for the 2007 scudetto while other critics of the game sustained that Inter were far too consistent for anyone to keep up with that scorching pace.

Mancini deserves praise. He had the most equipped squad in the Serie A at his disposal. The arrivals of Olivier Dacourt, Hernan Crespo, Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were the perfect signings to bolster an already-strong and settled team in no small way.

With a strong bench available, Mancini could adopt a proper rotation policy to hold an edge on all their Serie A rivals, particularly nearest pursuers Roma.

Consistent run

Inter combined a strong, consistent run that saw them winning matches even when playing below par.

Their dominance was evident in direct encounters. So far, they did the double over Milan and Fiorentina, claimed four points against Palermo and have already beaten Roma at the Olimpico.

Inter won 25 games and drew the remaining six Serie A fixtures. Only five sides - Sampdoria, Cagliari, Udinese (twice), Lazio and Palermo - have succeeded in remaining undefeated against Inter so far. At present, their defensive record is second best in the Serie A behind that of Roma.

Apart from the premature exit from the Champions League, this was arguably a memorable campaign for Inter who have also reached the Coppa Italia final for the third year running.

Many think the scudetto represents the beginning of brighter things to come for Inter.

It would be a pity if Mancini had to leave. From the biggest underachievers of the past 15 years, he has transformed the Milan giants into a winning outfit.

The omens do look good if Moratti retains the key players in his squad.

With the present team, and perhaps a couple of new signings, Inter will continue to dominate in Italy and perhaps try to leave a better impact on the continent.

Serie A statistics

0 Sampdoria wins at Roma's Olympic Stadium over the past decade. On Sunday, Roma bounced back from the 7-1 drubbing to Man. United by beating Sampdoria 4-0. Roma have now extended their unbeaten run in the Serie A to eight games (four wins and four draws). Their comprehensive win on Sunday, coupled with Inter's 2-2 home draw with Palermo, enabled Luciano Spalletti's side to reduce Inter's lead at the top of the table to 16 points. Palermo were well on their way to putting an end to their winless streak of late as they took a 2-0 half-time lead. However, Inter rallied to avoid their first league defeat of the term. Had Palermo won at the San Siro, then it would have been their first success in 20 Serie A visits to Inter in league matches.

1st drawn result for Lazio after eight straight wins as Delio Rossi's side twice came from behind to share the spoils with bottom-of-the-class Ascoli who were a whisker away from beating Lazio for the first time since December 31, 1983 (2-0). For the record, Sunday's draw was the first between these two sides since December 10, 1989 (0-0). Udinese returned to winning ways, after a heavy home defeat to Lazio and an away draw against Siena, courtesy of a narrow 2-1 home victory over Chievo. The Verona outfit have conquered the Friuli stadium only once in six Serie A visits - 2-1 on September 30, 2001.

2nd consecutive defeat for Torino, who, after going down to Sampdoria (0-1), succumbed unexpectedly at home to Atalanta. This was the latter's second successive win following the 1-0 home victory over Chievo. This defeat left Torino at the bottom half of the standings... only six points ahead of third-from-bottom Parma with seven games to go. Torino still have to play against Milan, Roma and Inter. At the Sant'Elia stadium, Cagliari and Empoli shared the spoils to keep their different targets alive. That of last weekend was Empoli's first positive result in three Serie A visits to Cagliari, still embroiled in the relegation battle.

3 coaches - Walter Novellino (Sampdoria), Mario Beretta (Siena) and Stefano Colantuono (Atalanta) - were ordered off their bench last weekend. Five players, namely, Alessandro Gamberini (Fiorentina), Andrea Coda (Udinese), Fabio Moro (Chievo), Pereira Da Silva Adriano (Atalanta) and Guglielmo Stendardo (Lazio), were red-carded by referees. Inter, Lazio and Empoli are the sides to have improved most in terms of points over last year - a difference of 13 points. Luigi Del Neri's Chievo are the side with the worst record in respect to 12 months ago. This time last year, Chievo were on their way to book a UEFA Cup berth. Now, with seven games to go, Chievo are only two points above the relegation trapdoor.

5th win for Champions League hopefuls Milan in as many Serie A visits to Messina. After reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup for the third time running, the Rossoneri were in defiant mood as they annihilated troubled Messina 3-1 at the San Filippo stadium. With this defeat - Messina's fourth in a row - the Sicilians have slipped closer to relegation. In a vital end-to-end clash, Parma and Catania shared the spoils at the Tardini Stadium in the two teams' first-ever meeting in the Serie A. Claudio Ranieri's Parma needed to win at all costs to close in on troubled Catania. But the Emiliani failed to perform and Catania settled for a priceless draw that kept them seven points clear of Parma.

7 wins and four draws from their last 11 games kept Fiorentina in the hunt for a UEFA Cup berth. In a highly-contested derby against Siena, Fiorentina made home soil count as they emerged winners for the second year running. In a basement clash at the Armando Picchi Stadium, Livorno and Reggina seemed happy to settle for a 1-1 draw that enabled both sides to stay out of the relegation zone... for the time being.

27 goals were scored on the 32nd day: 15 coming from the hosts and the remaining 12 from the visitors, who managed only two wins. Fourteen goals were scored before the break while foreign players contributed with seven. Total number of goals scored so far amount to 778. Neither hat-tricks nor own goals were recorded. Francesco Totti grabbed the only brace of the day to consolidate his leadership in the scorers' list with 20 goals (four from penalties). Totti is followed by Bianchi (Reggina), Lucarelli (Livorno) and Toni (Fiorentina), all on 16 goals. Three players - Abbruscato (Torino), Cruz (Inter) and Jimenez (Lazio) - came on as substitutes and scored. Only one penalty was ordered by referees last weekend from which Luigi Di Biagio scored for Ascoli.