Before the 2007/08 season got underway many had predicted that Inter would run away with the Serie A as they were considered super favourites to retain the champion-ship crown. Inter look solid and well-equipped in all departments.
It was also argued that the gulf in the spending power at the disposal of coach Roberto Mancini was unrivalled.
Fallen giants Juventus were still in a rebuilding process after spending a whole season in the doldrums of the Serie B and 'cup specialists' Milan looked more focused on the European Super Cup, the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup.
All this, consequently, left Roma as Inter's only realistic challengers for the scudetto.
Inter lived up to expectations, at first, and dictated matters from the word go. Before the Christmas recess, they had already established a cushion lead at the top of the standings. Roma and Juventus were distant pursuers while, as expected, Milan were never in the hunt for the championship.
Indeed, up to that stage Inter had confirmed their defiant supremacy in the Italian top flight. However, quite unexpectedly, their fortunes were to change for the worse.
With the arrival of the new year, Mancini's team started to falter and drop points at an alarming rate. At the time, we were led to believe that Inter were reserving their best for the Champions League. But things did not turn out that way as Inter lost their sparkle and flawless play. They started to stutter badly and got eliminated by Liverpool.
Roma, meanwhile, went on to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League and it now looked like Inter had an open way to secure the domestic crown.
But internal turmoil and a string of injuries to key players hindered Inter in no small way. After the Champions League upset, Mancini announced that he might leave at the end of the season. His position is still uncertain until this day.
Roma defiantly stayed within sights of Inter in the Serie A as the pressure started mounting on Mancini. At the San Siro, there were signs of strain in many a match as the campionato reached the straight for home.
Eventually, as we all know, the title run-in went all the way up to the final day with Inter, thanks to the returning Zlatan Ibrahimovic, claiming a vital 2-0 away win at Parma as Roma were held to a 1-1 by Catania in Sicily.
There were claims on Sunday evening that Inter were helped by match officials.
Roma's stand-in captain Daniele De Rossi told reporters that had Inter and Roma received the same treatment by the referees, then the team from the capital would have prevailed.
But such claims were unfounded. True, judging from Inter's performances of late, one tends to agree that Roma deserved more than just a runners-up spot.
However, champions emerge from one whole league campaign and not from a few weeks where a team hits top form. During the season, Roma dropped precious points to so-called small teams, like for instance the 1-1 home draw with Livorno on the 34th day.
Compared to the previous season, Inter went a step back and collected 12 points less. Roma improved their overall tally by seven. However, Luciano Spalletti's major stumbling block, particularly at the start of the season, was Roma's failure to close matches. Inter were good enough to win even when not firing on all cylinders. That was an asset for Mancini... Roma could never bank on such potential.
Taking everything into consideration, I think yes, Inter's third successive league triumph was deserved albeit Roma proved to be worthy challengers.
Serie A statistics
2nd successive away win for Fiorentina against Torino as they left it late to record a vital victory that enabled them to finish fourth. Fiorentina and Juventus will join Inter and Roma in next season's Champions League. Torino, who have not beaten Fiorentina at home since March 2002 (1-0), are the only top division side to collect the same number of points as that of the previous year - 40. Siena-Palermo shared the spoils in an entertaining 2-2 draw. Ex-Cagliari coach Marco Giampaolo will replace Mario Beretta on the Siena bench as from next season.
5th place for Milan as their comprehensive 4-1 home win over Udinese proved futile after Fiorentina's 1-0 victory in Turin. Udinese took the lead in the first half. But Milan's persistence to win on the day Brazilian duo Marcus Cafu and Serginho were making their last appearance for the club, paid off. This was Udinese's second straight defeat following a 0-2 home setback to Cagliari. Udinese, along with Milan and Sampdoria, will be Italy's three representatives in next season's UEFA Cup. Sampdoria-Juventus was the match of the day as they shared the spoils in a six-goal thriller. This meant that Sampdoria's most recent of 17 wins in 51 home meetings with Juve goes back to December 10, 1995 (2-0).
11 years had to pass for Lazio to return to winning ways against Napoli at home as the team from the capital scored a goal in each half to finish an otherwise colourless season on a high note. Lazio were one of the major disappointments of this season. Suffice to say that they collected no fewer than 19 points less with respect to 12 months ago. By stark contrast, Napoli pursued with their momentum from last term and proved to be one of the most refreshing sides of the season. Empoli found their way out of the Serie A despite a narrow 2-1 home win over demoted Livorno. Empoli's participation in this season's UEFA Cup, like the Champions League syndrome did to Lazio after all, was counter-productive. Empoli finished this season third-from-bottom with a staggering 18 points less when compared to last season.
16th League title for Inter as they floored Parma 2-0 at the Tardini Stadium. It was substitute Zlatan Ibrahimovic who sealed Inter's win and a third league championship in a row. He scored two well-taken goals inside the last 26 minutes of the game. Parma finished second bottom and slipped to the Serie B after 18 years in the top flight. Catania were minutes away from relegation as they trailed Roma 0-1 from as early as the eighth minute. But Jorge Martinez scored from close range four minutes from time to give Catania the tonic they needed to extend their stay in the Serie A by yet another season.
32 goals were scored on the last day of the season. Home teams netted 18 goals while visitors scored 14. There were only four 'home' wins. Total number of goals scored were 970. Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter), Massimo Maccarone (Siena) and Nicola Amoruso (Reggina) grabbed a brace each. Seven players, Ibrahimovic, Cafu, Pato (both Milan), Marconi (Atalanta), Diamanti (Livorno), Firmani (Lazio) and Montella (Sampdoria), came on as substitutes and scored. Del Piero finished top scorer with 21 goals (three from penalties). Four players, Sissoko (Juventus), Vieira (Inter), Danilo and Milanetto (both Genoa), received marching orders. Of the six penalties awarded by referees, half went off-target.