Inter claim Serie A 'winter title'

(CNN) -- AC Milan may have finished the year as world and European champions but in their home city they will go into the Italian winter break very much second best.

A 2-1 win for the two-time defending Serie A champions Inter Milan in Sunday's first derby clash of the season confirmed a reality already borne out even more strikingly by the league table.

Leaders Inter hold a 25-point advantage over 12th place AC Milan -- though the Rossoneri have played three matches less than most of those above them due to their international commitments -- and a seven-point lead over second-place Roma, earning them the ceremonial title of "winter champions."

AC Milan -- officially the visitors -- had taken an early lead at the San Siro through Andrea Pirlo's curled freekick but Inter hit back on 36 minutes when Argentine striker Julio Cruz fired home from his countryman Esteban Cambiasso's pass.

Cambiasso then made it an Argentine double, beating Dida with the winning goal on 60 minutes.

"It was an important victory for all our fans," said Cambiasso afterwards. "It was nice to finish off a great year in the best possible way."

Victory must have been all the more satisfying for Inter's players for the fact they had formed a guard of honor to applaud their opponents onto the field in tribute to Milan's success last week in winning a record 18th international title at the FIFA Club World Cup.

"That wasn't forced on us, it came naturally and I think it was deserved," Inter coach Roberto Mancini said afterwards, with the magnanimity of the victor.

"We beat the world champions and this makes the victory even sweeter. It was a nice match between two great teams."

Ironically, Mancini was virtually the only native involved in the Italian champions' win over the world champions, with Internazionale living up to their full title by fielding a team featuring nine South American, plus Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romanian defender Cristian Chivu.

Inter fans are not however likely to complain about that fact after years spent in the shadows of their more celebrated city rivals, Juventus and -- recently -- even Roma.

For a club regularly listed among the superpowers of global football, the keeper of Inter's trophy cabinet in recent decades has been surprisingly short of work.

Inter's golden age came in the mid-1960s under the guidance of the legendary Argentine coach Helenio Herrera, the man who made famous Italian football's trademark "catenaccio" defensive style, when the club won three league titles and two European Cups.

The Nerazzurri have only managed roughly one scudetto a decade since then, plus a trio of UEFA Cups in the 1990s.

Indeed, Inter's first title since 1989 last year only came by default amid the Serie A match-fixing scandal. In fact, Inter doubly benefited from that saga, with Juventus' demotion to Serie B and AC Milan's docking of points handing them a clear run to this season's championship.

Yet if those two titles will always be asterisked, Inter will have all the more reason to savor the prospect of a third straight title, won under more normal circumstances, in 2008.

The fact that the club has been firing on all cylinders in Europe -- traditionally a weak point -- comfortably winning their Champions League group to set-up an enticing last 16 clash with Liverpool, will only add to the new mood of confidence among Milan's blue-and-black clad supporters.

For now though, Mancini will be trying to keep the lid on Inter's new year celebrations -- perhaps wise behavior for a club with a long and anguished tradition of self-immolation.

"We did well but we haven't finished the first half of the season yet," he said after beating Milan.

"There are still a lot of games to play so we can't think we have already won. We know we still have a lot of work to do. We must continue on this path." E-mail to a friend