AC Milan's 0-0 draw with Roma may not have been the attacking feast of football the estimated 10,000 Milan supporters in the Olympic Stadium wanted, but it was enough to earn the club its 18th league title.
After the match the players celebrated on the pitch in front of the fans and donned celebratory t-shirts, while back in Milan thousands flocked to the city's main square - Piazza del Duomo - to begin celebrating their team's first championship since 2004.
Next up for Massimilliano Allegri's team is the Italian Cup semifinal second leg away to Palermo, with the teams tied at two goals apiece.
''I think that the guys have done so much, they've been fantastic and always accepted my decisions,'' Allegri said. ''The squad demonstrated it was united by everyone coming tonight and 10 of the guys sitting in the stand.
''I'm delighted to have won the title in my first season and it is still sinking in. We were top of the table for 26 rounds of games and the team couldn't have done any more.''
Appropriately enough the title win comes the season owner Silvio Berlusconi celebrated his 25th year in charge and was also the season in which Italy's premier signaled that the club would remain in family hands long after he is gone. His daughter Barbara was added as a 13th member of the club's board of directors in recent weeks.
Berlusconi's daughter has become a regular face in the directors' box at the San Siro and on the club's away trips. Her involvement even became personal when Italian gossip magazines exposed her budding relationship with the club's Brazil striker Alexandre Pato in March.
There was certainly optimism in the air at the start of the season with a young new coach in Allegri given his first chance at a big club after cutting his teeth with Cagliari, even if there was some disquiet among the fans that the older generation of players - Massimo Ambrosini, Gennaro Gattuso, Alessandro Nesta and Andrea Pirlo - were still being relied on, rather than chances being given to younger players.
Former Juventus and Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic completed his tour of Italy's big three clubs by joining on loan following a disappointing season with Barcelona. Brazil striker Robinho signed following a mixed time at Manchester City and Ghana international Kevin Prince Boateng arrived on loan from Genoa.
''I came to Milan to win things and that's what we've done,'' Ibrahimovic said. ''I have now won with the three biggest teams in Italy. I've been in Italy for six years and won it all. Now we have to think about only one thing; doing well on Tuesday to reach the final of the Italian Cup.''
Ibrahimovic watched from the stands as Milan began the season with a bang - a 4-0 win at home against Lecce - thanks to a brace by Pato and a goal apiece from Thiago Silva and Filippo Inzaghi.
The Swede started the next match, but it was far from a dream start as he missed a penalty in a 2-0 loss to newly promoted Cesena. He got off the mark two weeks later in a 1-1 draw with Lazio, and then scored the winner over Genoa that signaled the start of a four-match winning run.
The run came to an end at home to Juventus, but by then Ibrahimovic had scored three, Pato another two and Robinho twice to signal Milan's attacking intent.
Despite the loss, Milan was top of the Serie A two weeks later when Ibrahimovic, Pato and Robinho scored a goal apiece to defeat Palermo 3-1. Then, to prove its position was no fluke, Milan defeated defending champion Inter Milan 1-0 after Ibrahimovic ignored the jeers of the Inter fans to score a fifth-minute penalty.
Milan was top during the Christmas break and the side returned to winning ways in 2011 with a 1-0 victory at Cagliari.
Four draws and two wins in six matches then followed while the critics began predicting that a revitalized Inter under new coach Leonardo would haul back and overtake its city rival.
By then, striker Ronaldinho had ended his mediocre spell in Italian football by returning home to join Flamengo, but the club replaced him with another maverick attacker - Antonio Cassano - who fell out of favor at Sampdoria for a verbal tirade directed at club president Riccardo Garrone.
Also joining Milan were Dutch pair Mark van Bommel and Urby Emanuelson. Van Bommel in particular was crucial in keeping Milan's title ambitions on track as he filled in for the injured Pirlo and Ambrosini.
Alongside former Dutch international colleague Clarence Seedorf, the pair provided the experienced heads needed to get the team through tough times.
''This team was able to change its makeup on a number of occasions and this is one of its strengths,'' Ambrosini said. ''Everyone felt part of the side and made a contribution, while in January we were able to add a number of important players to the squad.''
Cassano got off the mark when he scored in a 4-0 rout of Parma and, at the end of February on a rainy night at the San Siro, Milan underlined its title claims with an emphatic 3-0 win over championship rival Napoli to leave the side five points clear of Inter and six ahead of Napoli.
Ibrahimovic, Pato and Boateng were the scorers. By then, Boateng had grown in stature at the club and was becoming a regular fixture in the side, thanks to his energetic displays and ability to play in a number of positions across the midfield.
A week later, though, it was another midfielder - warhorse Gattuso - who took the plaudits when he scored his first goal in more than three years to beat Juventus 1-0.
It is the second league title he has won at Milan, adding to the two Champions League titles he won in 2003 and 2007.
''This title is one of the most important because it came at a time when everyone said we were finished,'' Gattuso said. ''I realized we could win the championship when the coach started to make tough decisions. He was excellent, especially the way in which he controlled the dressing room.''
All eyes then turned to the second Milan derby of the season as Inter rode a wave of form to close to within two points at kickoff. Ibrahimovic missed the match due to a two-match suspension he received for punching Bari defender Marco Rossi.
It made no difference as Milan controlled the game from start to finish and extended its lead at the top to five points thanks to a brace from Pato and a late penalty from Cassano.
Ibrahimovic returned for a 2-1 win over Fiorentina, but was sent off again for dissent and was banned for three games. His suspension made no difference as wins over Sampdoria, Brescia and Bologna kept Milan's lead intact before the Sweden international returned to help seal the title against Roma.
With one trophy in the bag and a potential second to come the club will now face high expectations that it will be crowned European champion for an eighth time next season.
''At the start of the season there isn't one goal. If you're playing in three competitions you want to do as well as you can in all three,'' Allegri said. ''Only if we are good enough will we be in the hunt for all three trophies.''
