2002–03 Inter Milan season

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 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. === Left club during season === Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. === Transfers === ==== Winter ==== ==== 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 Archived 2019-02-13 at the Wayback Machine