AC Milan: Draw on Saturday Clinches First Championship in 7 Years for Rossoneri

AC Milan has not celebrated winning the Italian Serie A since 2004.

Since then, their hated rivals, Inter Milan, have won five Scudettos—all coming in the last five seasons. As a diehard Milanista, its getting really annoying watching the only team I hate as much as the Montreal Canadiens celebrating all the time.

Inter's reign of terror at the top is set to end in the coming weeks, or hours.

The Scudetto is prepared to cross the Stadio Guiseppe Meazza back to the Curva Sud from the evil Curva Nord part of the stadium. Milan lead their city and stadium rivals by eight points with only three matches to play.

When Milan travel to the capital to play AS Roma on Saturday, a draw will do. Two chances remain after Saturday with a home match against Cagliari followed by a challenging away fixture at Udinese.

Its been an exciting season for the Diavoli. It started in the summer when in the span of four days, Milan welcomed to the club two of the world's premier goal scorers in Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho.

After dropping five points from their first three matches, Milan turned on the style, currently boasting 23 wins, eight draws, and four losses in the league. They have only lost once since the winter recess, that loss coming in April against Palermo.

Most notable for Milan is the domination over their city rivals. In November, Milan got their hardest fought victory. In the first Milan Derby of the season, the Rossoneri led 1-0 from an Ibrahimovic spot kick in the fourth minute, but were reduced to 10 men in the 60th when Abate got into a heated row with Goran Pandev, picking up a second yellow.

Milan threw the entire team behind the ball and defended valiantly for a 1-0 victory, the first over Inter since 2008. In the second match in April, the Rossoneri dominated from the start, scoring through Pato 45 seconds in and ending Inter's pain at 3-0.

Milan have rarely faltered in the league this year. They find goals at the opportune moment through all of their elite goal scorers.

Most important has been Milan's defense. Led by standout defenders Thiago Silva and Ignazio Abate, as well as the incredible goalkeeping of Christian Abbiati, Milan have allowed only 23 goals in 35 matches, a mark that is 10 goals better than fourth place Lazio who have given up second fewest. Combined with the attack's second-best 61 goals (one behind Inter), Milan have a +38 goal difference, which is most closely rivaled by Inter at +23.

Few had faith that Milan could win under new manager Massimiliano Allegri, who joined after being let go from his post at Cagliari. In just his third season as a manager in Serie A, the 43-year old manager has certainly earned himself a nice bonus for the work he has done.

Many critics worried how Allegri would not only implement each of his star strikers, but how he would deal with the many egos of the club. Its well known that Milan have many characters on their team, but Allegri has handled the likes of Pato, Ibrahimovic, Robinho, Antonio Cassano and Gennaro Gattuso among others brilliantly.

While all the talk now is around Milan's imminent title victory, they also remain in Coppa Italia. They are in the Semifinals, deadlocked at 2-2 with Palermo for a spot in the Final. Palermo hold the edge with their two away goals, but Milan will be hungry in the return leg on Tuesday. Excitingly, there is a potential Derby Final awaiting. Inter lead Roma 1-0 after one leg with the second on Wednesday.

The only negative is the early (by Milan standards) exit from the Champions League, where Milan were knocked out by Tottenham 1-0 on aggregate in the Last 16. It was the third time in four years (the only three years Milan have been in the UCL in that time) that Milan were knocked out in the Last 16 by an English side, losing to Arsenal in 08, Manchester United last season, and now Spurs.

Milan fans are anticipating next season, as CEO Adriano Galliani has promised to build a Champions League winning squad in the summer. Milan are looking to win the famed tournament for the first time since 2007 and a second-best eighth time overall.

Win, lose, or draw on Saturday, it appears imminent that Milan will lift the Scudetto this season. Time to put that champagne on ice Milanista!