The 2001–02 season was Inter Milan's 93rd in existence and 86th consecutive season in the top flight of Italian football.
Season overview After a disappointing previous season, Massimo Moratti appointed former Valencia coach Héctor Cúper as the new head coach. Cúper managed to line-up a new team, buying players such as Toldo, Materazzi, Kallon and Ventola. Inter had a sprint-start, topping the league and passing several challenges in Europe. 2001 closed with Giuseppe Prisco's death, vice-chairman since 1962.
In the second part of season, Inter showed signs of exhaustion: 1–2 home loss to Atalanta was followed, on Thursday, by European elimination. Before the last league game, against Lazio, Inter was still at the top, with one point over Juventus and two over Roma. In the first half, Inter scored twice, but both goals were equalized by Lazio's Poborsky. During second half of the match, Lazio - still in race for a UEFA Cup spot - scored another two goals, eventually winning the match. Inter fell to third place, enough to qualify for next season's Champions League playoff. The Lazio-Inter game also marked Ronaldo's last appearance with Inter.
First-team squad Squad at end of season.
Transfers In Pos. Name from Type MF Andres Guly AC Milan MF Sérgio Conceição Parma €18.00 million FW Nicola Ventola Atalanta loan ended GK Francesco Toldo Fiorentina (U$26,0 million) DF Marco Materazzi Perugia (U$12 million) DF Gonzalo Sorondo Defensor Sporting (U$9 million) DF Nelson Vivas Arsenal €7.00 million DF Pasquale Padalino Bologna loan MF Okan Buruk Galatasaray free MF Emre Belözoğlu Galatasaray free GK Alberto Fontana Napoli (U$3 million) DF Salvatore Fresi Napoli loan ended FW Mohamed Kallon Vicenza loan ended MF Cristiano Zanetti Roma loan ended DF Grigorios Georgatos Olympiacos loan ended DF Martin Rivas Malaga loan ended FW Anselmo Robbiati Perugia loan ended Out Pos. Name To Type DF Christian Panucci Roma MF Andrea Pirlo AC Milan (U$17,0 million) MF Cristian Brocchi AC Milan DF Cyril Domoraud AC Milan GK Sébastien Frey Parma €21.00 million DF Matteo Ferrari Parma co-ownership FW Corrado Colombo Atalanta DF Laurent Blanc Manchester United free FW Adrian Mutu Hellas Verona €2,633 million MF Benoît Cauet Torino FW Marco Ferrante Torino loan ended MF Vladimir Jugović Monaco GK Marco Ballotta Modena DF Bruno Cirillo Lecce co-ownership DF Fabio Macellari Bologna co-ownership DF Salvatore Fresi Bologna MF Sixto Peralta Ipswich Town loan
Winter In Pos. Name from Type Out Pos. Name To Type FW Adriano Fiorentina loan FW Antonio Pacheco Espanyol loan FW Hakan Şükür Parma DF Jonatan Binotto Brescia DF Martin Rivas Peñarol FW Anselmo Robbiati Fiorentina loan
Reserve squad The following players did not make an appearance for the first team.
Competitions Serie A
Results by round
Matches
Coppa Italia
Eightfinals
UEFA Cup First round
Inter Milan won 6–0 on aggregate.
Second round
Inter Milan won 2–1 on aggregate.
Third round
Inter Milan won 4–2 on aggregate.
Fourth round
Inter Milan won 5–3 on aggregate.
Quarter-finals
Inter Milan won 2–1 on aggregate.
Semi-finals
Feyenoord won 3–2 on aggregate.
Statistics Appearances and goals As of 30 June 2002
! colspan=14 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Players transferred out during the season
References