2002–03 Inter Milan season

Season summary

The start of the season was marked by the departure of Ronaldo and the arrival of Hernán Crespo, after club had already acquired Fabio Cannavaro, Matías Almeyda and Domenico Morfeo. Crespo, along with Christian Vieri, built a formidable attacking duo. Crespo was essential in the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League campaign, while Vieri usually scored in the domestic matches. Their partnership worked until Crespo sustained an injury, which sidelined him for several weeks. Without him, and despite replacing Crespo with Gabriel Batistuta, Inter lost some key matches. One of these was against Juventus who, could finally aim for the title.

Inter managed to reach the Champions League quarter-finals, after finishing second in the group phase. Inter's opponent was Valencia, against whom they won 1–0 at home. A 2–1 defeat in Spain had no effect on qualification, due to the away goals rule. As Crespo came back from injury, Vieri got injured, but he managed to retain the title of the league's top scorer, with 24 goals. In the semi-finals, Inter lost to Milan due to Andriy Shevchenko's away goal in the second leg, equalized by Obafemi Martins, for a 1–1 aggregate that sent Milan to the final on away goals. Focusing on the European competition, Inter collected two draws in the league that caused them to end the season as runners-up to Juventus, who won their second-straight title.

Squad

:Squad at end of season

Left club during season

Transfers

Winter

Loan out

• ITA Salvatore Ferraro – ITA Prato, loan
• ITA Alex Cordaz – ITA Spezia, loan
• MKD Goran Pandev – ITA Spezia, loan

Competitions

Overview

Serie A

Main article: 2002–03 Serie A

League table

Results summary

Results by round

|color_3-4=green3|text_3-4=2003-04 UEFA Champions League qualifying round |color_5-6=blue2|text_5-6=2003-04 UEFA Cup |color_15-18=red1|text_15-18=2003-04 Serie B

Matches

Mamede
Nakamura Vivas Recoba Di Biagio Vieri Vieri Almeyda Conceição Moro Cossato Maresca Tosto Di Biagio Recoba Crespo Di Biagio Recoba 77' Morfeo Emre Vieri Del Piero Conte Pasquale Vieri Emre

Frara Julio Cruz Paramatti Padalino
Allegretti Pecchia Vieri Recoba Vannucchi Giampieretti Tavano J. Zanetti Vivas Recoba J. Zanetti Recoba Morfeo Adani Cordoba 30' Martinez Rossitto Gemitti Muzzi Bertotto Iaquinta Aldair Montella Batistuta Cassano Cannavaro Morfeo Okan Pasquale Inzaghi Serginho Cordoba 46' Vivas Vieri Morfeo 19' Coco 37' Vieri Vieri Di Biagio Conceicao Schopp Simeone Stankovic Corradi Liverani Couto Belözoğlu Cordoba Vieri Di Biagio Crespo E. Filippini Recoba Pasquale Crespo Crespo 31' Morfeo Kallon Conceicao 76' Colucci Vryzas Fusani Kalac Sogliano Blasi Grosso Caracciolo Di Biagio Vieri Cordoba Vieri Conticchio Okan Emre Kallon Emre 67' Zanetti J. Cordoba Lupatelli Vieri Cannavaro Di Biagio Recoba Vieri Gamarra Morfeo Kallon 81' Cristante Mangone Nedvěd Camoranesi
Zanetti C. Cruz Vanoli Recoba Cannavaro Cordoba Di Biagio Emre Di Biagio Vieri 31' Vieri Zanetti C. Cauet Iaquinta Coco C. Zanetti Recoba Belözoğlu Di Biagio Montella Totti Toldo Materazzi Di Biagio Simic Gattuso Rui Costa Bilica Appiah Šerić 46' Batistuta Vieri Crespo Cordoba Conceicao Di Biagio Doni Rossini Foglio Conceicao Cordoba Gamarra Zanetti C. Conceicao 70' Bonera P. Cannavaro E. Filippini Kallon Pasquale Dalmat Di Loreto Sogliano

Coppa Italia

Main article: 2002–03 Coppa Italia

Round of 16

Conceição Spinesi

UEFA Champions League

Main article: 2002–03 UEFA Champions League

Qualifying phase

Main article: 2002–03 UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds

Third qualifying round

Materazzi Kallon 67' Recoba Guly 60' Rui Jorge

First group stage

Main article: 2002–03 UEFA Champions League group stage#Group D

Karadas Cannavaro Crespo van der Meyde Caçapa Cannavaro Morfeo Anderson Carrière Diarra Caçapa Morfeo Caçapa Córdoba Crespo Crespo Cannavaro Saarinen Crespo Van der Vaart Coco Vieri Crespo Toldo Almeyda

Second group stage

Main article: 2002–03 UEFA Champions League second group stage#Group A

Solano Cannavaro 15' Materazzi Zanetti Almeyda Crespo Vieri Recoba Vieri 74' Butt Živković França Schneider Cocu Kluivert C. Zanetti Recoba Kallon 34' Cannavaro Dalmat 61' Cocu Gabri Vieri
Córdoba Di Biagio Shearer
Bellamy LuaLua Kleine Cris Martins 43' Morfeo
Belözoğlu

Knockout phase

Main article: 2002–03 UEFA Champions League knockout stage

Quarter-finals

Coco 31' Emre Zanetti Pasquale Albelda Aimar Baraja
Angulo Marchena Pasquale Toldo 31' Vieri Di Biagio Zanetti

Semi-finals

Martins Inzaghi Rui Costa Shevchenko Kaladze

Statistics

Appearances and goals

:As of 31 June 2003

References

References

1. Andrea Schianchi. (August 8, 2002). "Ore 16.30: Cannavaro all' Inter". [[La Gazzetta dello Sport]].
2. (August 31, 2002). "Shock transfers, Nesta to Milan and Ronaldo eventually goes to Real".
3. (September 30, 2002). "Vieri porta in fuga l' Inter". La Gazzetta dello Sport.
4. Gianni Piva. (November 13, 2002). "Grande Crespo, avanti a colpi di testa". [[la Repubblica]].
5. Andrea Sorrentino. (December 2, 2002). "Grande Vieri, l' uragano del gol è il Michael Jordan dell' Inter". la Repubblica.
6. Alberto Cerruti. (January 13, 2003). "L' Inter dà spettacolo Ma sorride a metà". La Gazzetta dello Sport.
7. Alberto Cerruti. (January 20, 2003). "Male l' Inter, peggio l' arbitro". La Gazzetta dello Sport.
8. (March 2, 2003). "Nedved unstoppable Juventus on top".
9. (March 19, 2003). "Inter wins in Leverkusen and enters into Champions top 8".
10. (April 9, 2003). "Inter, a goal from Vieri and a lot of suffering".
11. (April 23, 2003). "Inter in semifinal thank to Toldo".
12. (April 23, 2003). "Vieri, lighter injury but season at end".
13. (May 13, 2003). "Milan, just a draw to reach final".
14. Gianni Piva. (May 25, 2003). "Inter, solo pari con il Perugia: Di Loreto firma il 2-2". la Repubblica.
15. "FootballSquads - Internazionale - 2002/03".
16. "Acquisti e cessioni dell'Inter 2002/03". storiainter.com.
17. (23 May 2002). "Transfer market, Inter and Parma have reached an agreement". inter.it.
18. €5.7 million
19. (30 December 2002). "Ufficiale: Farinos dall'Inter al Villareal".
20. The opening matchday was scheduled to be played on 31 August and 1 September 2002, but was postponed due to the lack of agreement on television rights.
21. "Inter.it".