For the Italian football club Inter Milan (Football Club Internazionale Milano), 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.[1][2] Crespo, along with Christian Vieri, built a formidable attacking duo.[3] Crespo was essential in the 2002–03 UEFA Champions League campaign, [4] while Vieri usually scored in the domestic matches.[5] Their partnership worked until Crespo sustained an injury, which sidelined him for several weeks.[6] Without him, and despite replacing Crespo with Gabriel Batistuta, Inter lost some key matches.[7] One of these was against Juventus who, could finally aim for the title.[8]
Inter managed to reach the Champions League quarter-finals, after finishing second in the group phase.[9] Inter's opponent was Valencia, against whom they won 1–0 at home.[10] A 2–1 defeat in Spain had no effect on qualification, due to the away goals rule.[11] 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.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Source: 2002–03 Serie A, Soccerway Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Draw. (Note: Head-to-head record is used only after all the matches between the teams in question have been played).[18] (C) Champions Notes:
^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.
