Atletico Madrid’s long suffering fans have gained a reputation for revelling in failure as their side suffered 14 barren years since their last trophy win in 1996. But they will now have to reinvent themselves as goals from Jose Antonio Reyes and Sergio Aguero fired Quique Sanchez Flores’ men to their second European trophy in the space of four months.

The excellent Reyes opened the scoring in the 62nd minute when he ghosted past Maicon and fired under the hapless Julio Cesar before Sergio Aguero wrapped up the win with seven minutes remaining, tapping Simao’s cut-back into an empty net.

And Rafael Benitez’s pain was compounded when David de Gea threw up a hand to save a last minute Diego Milito penalty after Raul Garcia had clashed with Goran Pandev in the box.

A mere 43 seconds had elapsed when Wesley Sneijder latched on to Maicon’s long throw, but the newly crowned UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year failed to trouble David de Gea with a Van Basten-esque volley which flew over the crossbar.

The early indications were that Benitez would deliver on his promise that his Inter would play with the side pushed further up and more in control of possession. Old habits die hard, though, and as the half wore on Inter looked content to sit back, let Atletico have the ball and wait patiently for the perfect opportunity to strike.

For all their possession, Atleti only managed to threaten Julio Cesar’s goal on two occasions. Sergio Aguero was guilty of snatching at both opportunities, firing one into the side netting and the other high, wide and not very handsome.

Inter should have scored in the 29th minute when Walter Samuel found himself unmarked six-yards from goal, but he headed Sneijder’s inviting corner over with the goal at his mercy. Then, three minutes later, Samuel Eto’o skipped past Tomas Ujfalusi on the left-hand side but fired wide of De Gea’s right-hand post.

This was as good as it got for the Nerazzurri and the sides went in level at the break.

After the goalless opening 45, the match sprung to life in the second half and Reyes and Aguero both netted to secure victory and send the Atleti faithful into raptures.

Atletico have little time to dwell on their success, however, as their La Liga campaign kicks off on Monday when Sporting Gijon visit the Vicente Calderon on Monday evening.

Inter, on the other hand, must now quickly pick themselves up and turn their attention to league matters. The Beneamata begin the new Serie A season with a short trip south to face Bologna on Monday night.