2002–03 F.C. Internazionale Milano season

Internazionale

2002–2003 season
Chairman	Massimo Moratti
Manager	Héctor Cúper
Serie A	2nd
Coppa Italia	Round of 16
Ch. League	Semifinal
Top goalscorer	League: Vieri (24) All: Vieri (27)
Highest home attendance	76,854 vs. Milan (13 May 2003)
Lowest home attendance	54,825 vs. Perugia (24 May 2003)
Average home league attendance	61,943 (Serie A)
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

Season

Despite the failure in previous season, Moratti chose to go on with Cúper: his decision led to Ronaldo's departure, who suffered a bad feeling with the coach. In order to replace his star striker, the club got a «last minute» signing as Hernán Crespo came from Lazio; other arrivals were Fabio Cannavaro, Matias Almeyda (both former Parma players), Domenico Morfeo and Francesco Coco (due to a transfer-exchange with Seedorf).

Aiming for domestic title, Inter had a two-race against Juventus but collected very poor performances drawing the first game and losing by 3–0 the second. Cúper's side was also defeated in both derby and didn't manage to beat Roma and Lazio, coming at second place. Vieri shone for his manic regularity in goal area, scoring 24 goals in 23 games and resulting the league top-scorer.

Inter also took part in Champions League debuting in third preliminary round: beating Sporting Lisbona, they went into group phase. During the tournament, Inter managed to pass two round-robin stages topping in first (ahead Ajax) and placing second in last (after Barcelona): in next fixture, they knocked Valencia out with a goal scored by Vieri in Mestalla Stadium. His campaign was stopped in semifinals, by citizen rivals of Milan: both legs ended in draw, but the second (in which Shevchenko and Martins scored) sent Milan to final.

Squad

Squad at end of season^[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Francesco Toldo 2 DF Iván Córdoba 3 DF Nelson Vivas 4 DF Javier Zanetti (captain) 5 MF Matias Almeyda 6 DF Fabio Cannavaro 7 MF Sérgio Conçeicão 9 FW Hernán Crespo 19 FW Gabriel Batistuta (on loan from Roma) 10 MF Domenico Morfeo 11 MF Guly 12 GK Alberto Fontana 13 MF Okan Buruk 14 MF Luigi Di Biagio 15 DF Daniele Adani 16 DF Gonzalo Sorondo 17 DF Michele Serena 18 MF Stéphane Dalmat 20 FW Álvaro Recoba

No. Position Player 21 MF Nicola Beati 22 MF Cristiano Zanetti 23 DF Marco Materazzi 24 DF Carlos Gamarra 25 MF Emre Belözoglu 26 DF Giovanni Pasquale 27 GK Mathieu Moreau 30 FW Obafemi Martins 31 FW Mohamed Kallon 32 FW Christian Vieri 34 FW Mattia Altobelli 40 DF Luca Franchini 41 MF Nicola Napolitano 43 DF Alessandro Potenza 44 MF Mario Rebecchi 45 FW Wellington 65 GK Enrico Rossi Chauvenet 77 DF Francesco Coco 78 FW Nicola Ventola

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 8 MF Francisco Farinos (on loan to Villarreal)

No. Position Player 39 DF Salvatore Ferraro (on loan to Prato)

Transfers

In

• Daniele Adani - Fiorentina, 5 August, free
• Hernán Crespo - Lazio, 31 August, €26,000,000 + Bernardo Corradi (transfer valued at €38,000,000 total)
• Fabio Cannavaro - Parma, €23,000,000
• Matías Almeyda - Parma, part-exchange
• Francesco Coco - Milan, part-exchange
• Domenico Morfeo - Fiorentina
• Carlos Gamarra - AEK Athens
• Wellington - Vasco da Gama

Out

• Bernardo Corradi - Lazio, 31 August, part-exchange
• Ronaldo - Real Madrid, €46,000,000
• Clarence Seedorf - Milan, €28,000,000 (undisclosed sum + Francesco Coco)
• Vratislav Greško - Parma, part-exchange
• Adriano - Parma, co-ownership
• Grigoris Georgatos - AEK Athens
• Matteo Ferrari - Parma
• Dario Šimić - Milan

Loan in

• Gabriel Batistuta - Roma, loan

Loan out

• Javier Farinós - Villarreal, loan
• Salvatore Ferraro - Prato, loan
• Alex Cordaz - Spezia, loan
• Goran Pandev - Spezia, loan

Results

Serie A

1	Internazionale	1–0	Torino
	Vieri  23'

2	Reggina	1–2	Internazionale
	Nakamura  90+2' (pen.)		Vieri  7' Recoba  90+3'

3	Internazionale	2–1	Chievo
	Vieri  15', 78' (pen.)		Marazzina  3'

4	Piacenza	1–4	Internazionale
	Maresca  73'		Di Biagio  36', 51' Recoba  69' Crespo  85'

5	Internazionale	1–1	Juventus
	Vieri  90+5'		Del Piero  89' (pen.)

6	Internazionale	2–0	Bologna
	Materazzi  67' Vieri  90+2'

7	Como	0–2	Internazionale
			Vieri  58' Recoba  65'

8	Empoli	3–4	Internazionale
	Di Natale  16' Vannucchi  61' Tavano  90+2'		Crespo  6' J. Zanetti  11' Recoba  51' Adani  85'

9	Internazionale	1–2	Udinese
	Vieri  3'		Jørgensen  25' Muzzi  55'

10	Roma	2–2	Internazionale
	Montella  59' Batistuta  73'		Morfeo  58' Okan  89'

11	Milan	1–0	Internazionale
	Serginho  12'

12	Internazionale	4–0	Brescia
	Vieri  3', 13', 58', 89'

13	Lazio	3–3	Internazionale
	C. López  10' (pen.), 30', 36'		Couto  37' (o.g.) Emre  66', 75'

14	Internazionale	1–0	Atalanta
	Kallon  70'

15	Parma	1–2	Internazionale
	J. Zanetti  55' (o.g.)		Di Biagio  37' Recoba  75' (pen.)

16	Internazionale	2–0	Modena
	Recoba  6' Crespo  22'

17	Perugia	4–1	Internazionale
	Zé Maria  9' (pen.) Vryzas  34', 63' Fusani  55'		Vieri  79'

18	Internazionale	3–0	Empoli
	Vieri  69', 73', 85'

19	Torino	0–2	Internazionale
			Vieri  50' Okan  56'

20	Internazionale	3–0	Reggina
	Vieri  10' Kallon  39', 43' (pen.)

21	Chievo	2–1	Internazionale
	Corini  22' (pen.), 36' (pen.)		Vieri  69'

22	Internazionale	3–1	Piacenza
	Batistuta  64' Vieri  65', 67'		Hübner  90'

23	Juventus	3–0	Internazionale
	Guly  4' (o.g.) Nedvěd  34' Camoranesi  83'

24	Bologna	1–2	Internazionale
	Cruz  24'		Recoba  9', 85'

25	Internazionale	4–0	Como
	Batistuta  14' Di Biagio  25' Vieri  56', 76'

26	Udinese	2–1	Internazionale
	Muzzi  48' Iaquinta  59'		Córdoba  73'

27	Internazionale	3–3	Roma
	Vieri  52' Recoba  59' Emre  77'		Cassano  46' Di Biagio  82' (o.g.) Montella  84'

28	Internazionale	0–1	Milan
			Inzaghi  62'

29	Brescia	0–1	Internazionale
			Crespo  90+3'

30	Internazionale	1–1	Lazio
	Crespo  43'		S. Inzaghi  77'

31	Atalanta	1–1	Internazionale
	Gautieri  71'		Martins  13'

32	Internazionale	1–1	Parma
	Kallon  36'		Mutu  63'

33	Modena	0–2	Internazionale
			Pavan  28' (o.g.) Kallon  36'

34	Internazionale	2–2	Perugia
	Crespo  10', 56'		Obodo  46' Di Loreto  89'

Champions League

• Sporting CP 0-0 Inter
• Inter 2-0 Sporting CP

First group stage

17 September 2002	Rosenborg	2 – 2	Internazionale	Lerkendal Stadion, Trondheim
20:45	Karadas  52', 65'	Report	Crespo  33', 79'	Referee: Juan Antonio Fernandez Marin (Spain)

25 September 2002	Internazionale	1 – 0	Ajax	San Siro, Milan
20:45	Crespo  75'	Report		Referee: Stuart Dougal (Scotland)

2 October 2002	Internazionale	1 – 2	Lyon	San Siro, Milan
20:45	Caçapa  73' (o.g.)	Report	Govou  21' Anderson  60'	Referee: Manuel Mejuto González (Spain)

22 October 2002	Lyon	3 – 3	Internazionale	Stade de Gerland, Lyon
20:45	Anderson  21', 75' Carrière  44'	Report	Caçapa  31' (o.g.) Crespo  56', 66'	Referee: Kim Milton Nielsen (Denmark)

30 October 2002	Internazionale	3 – 0	Rosenborg	San Siro, Milan
20:45	Recoba  31' Saarinen  52' (o.g.) Crespo  72'	Report		Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

12 November 2002	Ajax	1 – 2	Internazionale	Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam
20:45	Van der Vaart  90+4'	Report	Crespo  50', 52'	Referee: Urs Meier (Switzerland)

Second group stage

27 November 2002	Newcastle United	1 – 4	Internazionale	St. James' Park, Newcastle
20:45	Solano  72'	Report	Morfeo  2' Almeyda  35' Crespo  45' Recoba  81'	Referee: Stéphane Bré (France)

10 December 2002	Internazionale	3 – 2	Bayer Leverkusen	Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
20:45	Di Biagio  15', 27' Butt  80' (o.g.)	Report	Živković  63' França  90'	Referee: Hugh Dallas (Scotland)

18 February 2003	Barcelona	3 – 0	Internazionale	Camp Nou, Barcelona
20:45	Saviola  7' Cocu  29' Kluivert  67'	Report		Attendance: 80,000 Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden)

26 February 2003	Internazionale	0 – 0	Barcelona	Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
20:45		Report		Attendance: 71,740 Referee: Urs Meier (Switzerland)

11 March 2003	Internazionale	2 – 2	Newcastle United	Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan
20:45	Vieri  47' Córdoba  61'	Report	Shearer  42', 49'	Referee: Lucílio Batista (Portugal)

19 March 2003	Bayer Leverkusen	0 – 2	Internazionale	BayArena, Leverkusen
20:45		Report	Martins  36' Emre  90'	Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia)

Quarter-finals

9 April 2003	Internazionale	1 – 0	Valencia	San Siro, Milan
20:45	Vieri  14'	Report		Attendance: 52,623 Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)

22 April 2003	Valencia	2 – 1	Internazionale	Estadio Mestalla, Valencia
20:45	Aimar  7' Baraja  51'	Report	Vieri  5'	Attendance: 48,000 Referee: Kim Milton Nielsen (Denmark)

Semi-finals

7 May 2003	Milan	0 – 0	Internazionale	San Siro, Milan
20:45		Report		Attendance: 78,175 Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia)

13 May 2003	Internazionale	1 – 1	Milan	San Siro, Milan
20:45	Martins  84'	Report	Shevchenko  45+1'	Attendance: 76,854 Referee: Gilles Veissière (France)

Top scorers

• Christian Vieri 24
• Álvaro Recoba 9
• Hernán Crespo 7
• Emre Belözoğlu 4
• Mohamed Kallon 4

References

Sources

- RSSSF Italy 2002/03

F. C. Internazionale Milano seasons 1909 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15

2002–03 in Serie A Atalanta Bologna Brescia Chievo Como Empoli Internazionale Juventus Lazio Milan Modena Parma Perugia Piacenza Reggina Roma Torino Udinese