Lautaro Martinez admitted Inter "needed a change" after last season's trophy drought, highlighting Cristian Chivu's "fresh energy" as a reason for their Scudetto success.

Inter clinched their 21st Serie A title with a 2-0 win over Chivu's former club, Parma, with Marcus Thuram and Henrikh Mkhitaryan getting the all-important goals.

It is their sixth Scudetto triumph with at least three matchdays remaining in the league, while they have recorded at least 80 points (82) in the three-points-per-win era for the 12th time in their history.

As for Chivu, he is the fifth manager ever to win the Scudetto in his first season with Inter in Serie A, and the first since Jose Mourinho in 2008-09.

While it has been a season of transition for Inter in some ways, Martinez feels the change in coach re-energised the squad.

"The coach did so well bringing fresh energy, enthusiasm, so after four great years with Simone [Inzaghi], perhaps we needed a change of scenery after that Champions League final [a 5-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain]," Martinez told DAZN Italia.

"Chivu made sure everyone felt involved and could even train with a smile. That really helped."

The Nerazzurri have scored 115 goals across all competitions in 2025-26 (including the Club World Cup), a record since the inception of the Serie A single-round format (1929-30).

Inter have scored 82 of those in Serie A. Never in the last 75 years have they scored more after 35 games of a single season of the competition.

"We have for many years been doing very well in Italy and Europe, reaching two Champions League finals in three years," Martinez added.

"We must continue along this path, because the most important thing after winning is to keep trying to do better.

"In such a balanced league as this, we managed to keep focused as a group, and this is the most wonderful thing that I am impressed by, the unity of this team."

After Inter's Club World Cup exit, Martinez publicly hit out at some of his team-mates, most notably Hakan Calhanoglu, demanding that only those who truly wanted to be at the club should stay.

But Martinez says the team are in a much better place than they were back in July, and is thrilled their hard work paid off.

"What I said at that moment was what I felt and had been holding inside me," he said. "I didn't plan it, I just saw some things I didn't like, and I say what I think.

"We feel so happy now. It was not easy to start again after a season where we lost all the competitions; we were in right at the end, but I am very happy with this achievement.

"It was a very important objective for us, perhaps many didn't see us being favourites considering what happened last term, but we worked so hard on and off the field."