For the Italian football club Inter Milan, the 2002–03 season marked its 94th in existence and its 87th consecutive season in the top flight of Italian football. The team finished second in Serie A and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. Christian Vieri was the top goalscorer.
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
In Pos. Name from Type FW Hernán Crespo Lazio €40.00 million DF Francesco Coco Milan €22.50 million MF Ümit Davala Milan €2.0 million DF Fabio Cannavaro Parma €23.10 million MF Matías Almeyda Parma €22.10 million FW Bernardo Corradi Chievo Verona €4.00 million DF Daniele Adani Fiorentina free MF Domenico Morfeo Fiorentina free DF Carlos Gamarra Flamengo free
Out Pos. Name To Type FW Ronaldo Real Madrid €45.00 million MF Clarence Seedorf Milan €22.50 million DF Dario Šimić Milan €5.0 million DF Vratislav Greško Parma €22.10 million FW Adriano Parma co-ownership€14.50 million DF Matteo Ferrari Parma co-ownership ended€5.7 million FW Bernardo Corradi Lazio €10.00 million MF Ümit Davala Galatasaray loan DF Pasquale Padalino Bologna loan ended GK Alex Cordaz Spezia loan MF Sixto Peralta Racing Club loan
Winter In Pos. Name from Type FW Gabriel Batistuta Roma loan
Out Pos. Name To Type MF Francisco Farinós Villarreal loan
Loan out Salvatore Ferraro – Prato, loan Alex Cordaz – Spezia, loan Goran Pandev – Spezia, loan
Competitions Overview
Serie A
League table
Results summary
Results by round
Matches
Coppa Italia
Round of 16
UEFA Champions League
Qualifying phase
Third qualifying round
First group stage
Second group stage
Knockout phase
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Statistics Appearances and goals As of 31 June 2003
References
External links Official website