THE VITALS:

Team: Internazionale

Brand: Nike

Era: 2001-02 (Used for the 2001-02 Serie A season)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

In spite of the shirt’s advanced age, the article still remains in very good condition, with the felt sponsor remaining fully attached, and the Nike swoosh and club crest also remaining immaculate. Naturally, there is some wear to the material, and bobbling to the side panels.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Small

Pit to Pit Measurement: 20 inches

Shirt Length: 26.5 inches

Made in the Nike ‘Dri-Fit’ mould which they introduced in 2001; this shirt provides a fine size small fitting football shirt.

DESCRIPTION:

For the first time in Nike’s tenure as Internazionale’s kit supplier, yellow trims were used to accompany the legendary black and blue stripes of Internazionale Milano! Blue would again feature as the base of the base of the shirt, however there would be the inclusion of a blue mesh pattern that made up the side panels and underarms of the shirt creating a fantastic contemporary design. This shirt would also be the first Inter shirt to feature a collar since their debut presentation in the 1998-99 season! This season would be the last to feature the legendary Ronaldo before he moved on to Real Madrid in the summer of 2002; regrettably, his final season with the club would see him miss out yet again on the elusive Serie A title with the Nerazzurri falling just short in their quest for the Scudetto on the last day of the season!

THE SEASON:

The Marcelo Lippi experiment would last no longer than October 2000 in his second season with the club after his controversial appointment back in 1999, and his replacement – Marco Tardelli could only guide the club to a 5^th place finish as the team fell short of the standards set in the 1999-00 season. Hector Cuper, after guiding Valencia to back-to-back UEFA Champions League Final’s in 2000 & 2001 respectively would be drafted in to guide the badly underachieving Nerazzurri ahead of the 2001-02 season!

His tenure began with a spectacular 4-1 win over Perugia, and he would oversee 5 wins from his opening 7 games as the club enjoyed an unbeaten start to the season that came to end in the 4-2 defeat to AC Milan in the Milan Derby on 21/10/01. Inter would only taste defeat twice in the 2001 segment of the season as they closed the year as Winter Champions.

Internazionale were just as relentless following the turn of the year, and by the end of March 2002; they had lost just 1 league game all year round and held a 3 point lead over 2^nd place AS Roma with 5 games to spare; however, just 2 wins in their next 4 games meant that they would have to defeat Lazio on the final day of the season to end their long 12 year wait for the Scudetto. In classic Inter melodrama; they would throw a 2-1 lead away to be beaten 4-2 in the capital to surrender their 2 point advantage at the top and finish in 3^rd place!

While Inter could only reach the Last 16 of the Coppa Italia; they would turn back the clock in the UEFA Cup to reach the semi-final of the competition after seeing off the likes of: Ipswich Town, AEK Athens, and Valencia in what was the Hector Cuper destiny tie! They would fall agonisingly short in the semi-final against the eventual winners – Feyenoord who would not be denied playing the final in their home stadium!

Lastly, the close season would be one of emotional farewell as Ronaldo ‘El Fenomeno’ would join Real Madrid in the summer of 2002. Injury would leave the stay of the Brazilian icon with a feeling of ‘if only…’ as he was restricted to just 99 appearances in 5 seasons. There would also be an exit for Clarence Seedorf and Dario Simic as the pair traded Inter for AC Milan ahead of the 2002-03 season.

The notable players that season were:

Ronaldo, Adriano, Hakan Sukur, Christian Vieri, Nicola Ventola, Clarence Seedorf, Alvaro Recoba, Emre Belozoglu, Luigi Di Biagio, Sergio Conceicao, Javier Zanetti, Ivan Cordoba, Marco Materazzi, Laurent Blanc, Michele Serena, Dario Simic, Alberto Fontana, Francesco Toldo