2002–03 Inter Milan season

Internazionale

2002–03 season
President	Massimo Moratti
Manager	Héctor Cúper
Stadium	San Siro
Serie A	2nd
Coppa Italia	Round of 16
UEFA Champions League	Semi-finals
Top goalscorer	League: Christian Vieri (24) All: Christian Vieri (27)
Highest home attendance	76,854 vs Milan (13 May 2003, Serie A)
Lowest home attendance	54,825 vs Perugia (24 May 2003, Serie A)
Average home league attendance	61,943
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

The 2002–03 season was Football Club Internazionale Milano's

Season overview

Despite the failure in previous end season, Moratti agreed to keep Héctor Cúper on. This choose led to Ronaldo's departure: as obvious, the star striker had a very poor feeling with his coach. In order to replace his former player, the club managed to got a «last minute» signing with Crespo (who spend last years in Lazio team); other notable arrivals were Cannavaro, Almeyda, Morfeo and Coco.

About domestic league Inter had an other attempt to aiming the title, failing again. They got the first place after four weeks, leaving it due to 1–1 draw with Juventus: along the autumnal months Milan and Lazio headed the league, too. After 17 games, Milan reached the first place with 39 points. During the second half of season, Inter wasted his chanches mainly due to losses and no point in big matches: the manic goal-score regularity shown by Christian Vieri was useful to get a second place.

Their European campaign started off from Champions League's third preliminary round, beating Sporting Lisbona. Then Inter was able to pass two round-robin groups topping the first (ahead Ajax) and being second in latter (behind Barcelona). In single-elimination rounds, Inter knocked Valencia out due to away goals rule. However, in semifinals, the same rule contributed to Inter's elimination despite 0–0 and 1–1 ties in Milan derby.

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 Emre Belozoglu 6 MF Cristiano Zanetti 7 MF Sérgio Conçeicão 9 FW Hernán Crespo 10 FW Gabriel Batistuta (on loan from Roma) 10 MF Domenico Morfeo 11 MF Guly 12 GK Alberto Fontana 13 DF Fabio Cannavaro 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 Okan Buruk 23 DF Marco Materazzi 24 DF Carlos Gamarra 25 MF Matias Almeyda 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

Inter v Torino

1	Inter	1–0	Torino
	Vieri  23'

Reggina v Inter

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

Inter v Chievo

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

Piacenza v Inter

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

Inter v Juventus

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

Inter v Bologna

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

Como v Inter

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

Empoli v Inter

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

Inter v Udinese

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

Roma v Inter

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

Milan v Inter

11	Milan	1–0	Inter
	Serginho  12'

Inter v Brescia

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

Lazio v Inter

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

Inter v Atalanta

14	Inter	1–0	Atalanta
	Kallon  70'

Parma v Inter

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

Inter v Modena

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

Perugia v Inter

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

Inter v Empoli

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

Torino v Inter

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

Inter v Reggina

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

Chievo v Inter

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

Inter v Piacenza

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

Juventus v Inter

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

Bologna v Inter

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

Inter v Como

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

Udinese v Inter

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

Inter v Roma

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

Inter v Milan

28	Inter	0–1	Milan
			Inzaghi  62'

Brescia v Inter

29	Brescia	0–1	Inter
			Crespo  90+3'

Inter v Lazio

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

Atalanta v Inter

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

Inter v Parma

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

Modena v Inter

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

Inter v Perugia

34	Inter	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

Rosenborg v Internazionale

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)

Internazionale v Ajax

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

Internazionale v Lyon

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)

Lyon v Internazionale

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)

Internazionale v Rosenborg

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)

Ajax v Internazionale

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

Newcastle United v Internazionale

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)

Internazionale v Bayer Leverkusen

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)

Barcelona v Internazionale

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)

Internazionale v Barcelona

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

Internazionale v Newcastle United

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)

Bayer Leverkusen v Internazionale

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

Quarter-finals

Internazionale v Valencia

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

Valencia v Internazionale

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

Milan v Internazionale

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

Internazionale v Milan

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