Article 33 — Inter 03–06
Hector Cuper was the Inter manager for the third season running which was a record in itself in my time as an Inter fan at the time of the 2003–04 season, even reaching 2 consecutive seasons was a record in itself.
Before we get into the performance that season, let’s address the nitty-gritty of transfers that season. Inter signed Andy van der Meyde who was our opponent for 2 matches last season in the Champions League for Ajax Amsterdam, Sabri Lamouchi, Julio Cruz, Khalilou Fadiga, Thomas Helveg, Kily Gonzalez, Giorgios Karagounis and Luciano on loan from Chievo Verona. I was unsure on the signing of Julio Cruz to replace Crespo from being used to the signings of star strikers but he impressed me with some really good performances especially in big matches.
Fadiga who was one of Senegal’s star players in their surprise debut run at World Cup 2002 but unfortunately like another African before him, Kanu, it was discovered that he had heart problems in his time at the club.
Leaving the club were Guly, Nicola Ventola, Gonzalo Sorondo and Stephane Dalmat on loan. Sergio Conceicao, Domenico Morfeo, Luigi Di Biagio and Nelson Vivas were sold. Michele Serena retired. The biggest surprise was the sale of Hernan Crespo for big-money to Chelsea. I didn’t agree and was really surprised by the sale of Conceicao, Morfeo, Di Biagio, Crespo and that we allowed Dalmat to leave on loan. I felt all these players could have still done well and given us a big helping hand for this season.
The best signings that made the biggest impact were signed in the winter, the re-signing of Adriano who burst into life in his time at Parma and the signing of Dejan Stankovic from Lazio. Both players joined the club at the right time to give the team a breath of fresh air which was much needed.
We didn’t have a very good season overall. We finished 4th in the league and qualified for the Champions League which was the minimum requirement. For the first time in a long time, we beat Juventus home and away in the league. In the Coppa Italia, we drew against Juventus 2–2 home and away in the semi-final but we lost narrowly 5–4 on penalties. The Coppa Italia run was our best run in any competition that season.
In the Champions League, we got off to a great start, beating an Arsenal team that would end the season as the Invincibles of England 3–0 at Highbury.
That was the best it got for us in the Champions League as we struggled in other games in the group stage. In the return match against Arsenal at San Siro, we took the lead through Vieri only to capitulate to an embarrassing 1–5 defeat at home. Inter were demoted to the UEFA Cup after we finished 3rd in the group stage. We were knocked out in the quarter-final by eventual finalists, Marseille who beat us 2–0 on aggregate.
Cuper’s time was short-lived this season, lasting only until October 2003. He was replaced by Alberto Zaccheroni, who won the Scudetto with AC Milan in 1998–99, for the rest of the season with mixed results. In January 2004, Inter legend Giacinto Facchetti was appointed as the Chairman in place of Massimo Moratti who was still the majority shareholder of the club.
Roberto Mancini was hired to replace Alberto Zaccheroni. Mancini did well at his two previous clubs, Fiorentina and Lazio despite both clubs facing financial difficulty and liquidation to win the Coppa Italia for both clubs. At this time, the power of Italian clubs had already weakened as clubs were desperate to balance their books and avoid bankruptcy. As a result, many star players left Italy and there were no new star players entering Italy.
In Mancini’s first season, the club made a number of signings without spending a cent, Ze Maria, Edgar Davids, Esteban Cambiasso, Mancini’s former team-mate Sinisa Mihajlovic, Fabian Carini, Giuseppe Favalli and Lampros Choutos. Another of Mancini’s former team-mate, Juan Sebastian Veron was signed on loan from Chelsea. Inter made 2 signings from South America, Argentine defender Nicolas Burdisso and Brazilian goalkeeper, Julio Cesar. Cesar joined Chievo Verona as he couldn’t be a registered Inter player as there was a cap in Serie A on the number of non-EU players that can be signed from abroad by a club.
Unfortunately, Fabio Cannavaro, a world-class defender was sold to our bitter-rivals Juventus after being unable to show his true form and potential consistently in 2 seasons at the club. The other players sold were Mohamed Kallon, Francisco Farinos, Guly, Daniele Adani, Thomas Helveg, Okan Buruk and Matias Almeyda. The unfortunate Fadiga was released from his contract. Gonzalo Sorondo, Stephane Dalmat, Nicola Ventola continued time away on loan and Giovanni Pasquale was also sent out on loan.
Roberto Mancini oversaw some very good attacking football in the league but we drew too many matches that season and only lost 2 matches that season, finishing it 14 points behind Juventus, the league champions. If we had converted at least half of those draws into victories, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that we would have ended the season as champions.
We had 2 positive results over Juventus, drawing the first match at San Siro and winning the return match 1–0 at Stadio Delle Alpi. The home match against Mancini’s former club, Sampdoria on the 9th January 2005, epitomised our season. We were repeatedly frustrated by Sampdoria who went on to score twice against the run of play, it was looking like our 17 matches unbeaten run would come to an end but 3 late goals salvaged a memorable come-from-behind 3–2 win.
In the Champions League, we navigated past the Swiss team, FC Basel 5–2 on aggregate to qualify for the group stage. In the group stage, Inter produced a fantastic away display to thrash defending Spanish champions, Valencia 5–1 at the Mestalla, a ground Inter had found tough to play at in their past 2 visits.
We qualified top of the group and were drawn against the defending European champions, Porto. We did well to knock them out 4–2 on aggregate and as luck would have it, we were drawn against AC Milan in a 2nd European Milan derby in 3 seasons.
We had drawn once and lost once against Milan in Serie A this season so our neighbours held the upper-hand. They won the first leg 2–0 before the 2nd leg was abandoned in the 72nd minute with Milan leading 1–0. Inter fans rained down flares and one hit Milan goalkeeper Dida as frustration and anger grew among Inter fans after a wrongly disallowed goal. The real frustration and anger must have been towards another poor result in our 4th Milan derby of the season and at the feeling of being left in the wake of our neighbours which did sting and annoy me at that time.
Mancini’s first season ended with our first trophy since the 1997–98 UEFA Cup. Mancini kept up his reputation as the Coppa Italia specialist, bringing Inter to the final. We won the final 3–0 on aggregate against Roma. It was our just rewards for a positive debut season under Mancini.
Roberto Mancini justifiably kept his position as Inter manager for 2005–06. Inter were now looking to build on the positive 2004–05 season by going one step better and reach the Holy Grail that is the Scudetto and in that process, breaking a long duck stretching back to 1989.
In the summer, we signed Walter Samuel, David Pizarro and Santiago Solari. On a free transfer, we signed Maxwell, Pierre Wome, a big-name in Luis Figo and Cesar on loan. Like Julio Cesar the previous season, Maxwell was contracted to Empoli for the season due to the non-EU players rule in Serie A.
Andy van der Meyde and Emre Belozoglu were sold to English clubs Everton and Newcastle United. There were a number of players that left on a free transfer this summer. Nicola Ventola, Sabri Lamouchi, Gonzalo Sorondo, Edgar Davids, Alberto Fontana, Carlos Gamarra, Stephane Dalmat, Giorgios Karagounis all left on a free transfer. Christian Vieri was the biggest name to leave on a free transfer. He was a declining force as injuries took a toll on him. Adriano had taken over the mantle as the number 1, star striker at Inter last season after his explosion to life at Parma and then carrying that form for Inter when we re-signed him. I was surprised as to why we allowed Davids to leave because I felt he had a good season with us in 2004–05.
We got off to a great start to the season, carrying on our good recent form over Juventus to beat them at their own patch 1–0 after extra-time to win the Supercoppa Italiana.
In Serie A, we won more matches than we did last season but lost more too. Our performance wasn’t as impressive as the previous season despite finally beating AC Milan in a thrilling Milan derby.
In the Champions League, we finished top of the group to meet Ajax Amsterdam in the 2nd Round for the first time since 2002–03. We beat the Dutch giants to play against Spanish side Villareal in the quarter-final. We beat them 2–1 in the first leg confident that we will see out the tie in the second leg and progress to the semi-final. Instead, Villareal played well and was stubborn enough in defence to keep us out. We lost 1–0 and Villareal knocked us out on away goals rule.
The season was salvaged in the Coppa Italia again. We reached the final for the second season in a row against the same opponent, Roma. The first leg was drawn 1–1 at Stadio Olimpico and there were some fear and anxiety that we could bottle the final. All that was laid to rest as we won the return leg at San Siro 3–1 to win the final 4–2 on aggregate. This was to be our 2nd Coppa Italia in a row and 3rd trophy won in succession if you count the Supercoppa Italiana, the curtain-raiser to the Italian season.
Luck was to smile down on us in the summer of 2006. As Italy prepared to take part in the World Cup, a scandal erupted in Italy called Calciopoli. For the unacquainted, this was a match-fixing scandal that rocked Italian football involving big clubs like Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio. The other club involved was Reggina. A decision was made after the high of Italy winning their fourth World Cup.
Significantly, Juventus was stripped of the 2004–05 and 2005–06 Scudetti and demoted to Serie B with a 9 point deduction. The other teams all faced points deductions without any demotions. Inter was awarded the 2005–06 Scudetto in the courtroom as the highest finisher in the league after Juventus’ demotion and AC Milan’s points deduction. The 2004–05 Scudetto was left unassigned.
This stroke of luck would herald an era of Inter dominance for the rest of the 2000s. It would also create candour among Juventus fans towards Inter and deepen the rivalry and hatred between the two clubs for years to come. Personally, I would have preferred to have won it on the pitch in 1997–98, 2001–02 or any other season for that matter but we shall accept whatever is given to us. We didn’t play particularly well this season to have deserved the Scudetto and I wouldn’t have guessed that behind the scenes all this was going on. There was always controversy and rumours on Juventus being favoured by referees but I felt it was mostly said in vain and anger. For it to be proven in this manner, it is truly remarkable and appalling. I lost further respect for Juventus in this time as a club and there was a feeling of justice at their punishment.
