The eyes of the football public are on the Apennine Peninsula these days. Fans of the most important side event in the world are closely following the fight between Juventus and Napoli for the Scudetto. There are still three rounds left until the end of the championship. The leader is Juventus with four points more than Napoli.
Although with the triumph over the Old Lady, two weeks ago in Turin, he announced the fight for the Scudetto until the last round, Napoli slipped in Florence in the last round, so it is increasingly likely that Juve will continue to dominate in Italy and win the seventh consecutive title.
However, it is not rare that we see an uncertain ending in the battle for the throne in Serie A. The real drama took place on this day in 2002 when Juventus and Inter decided the champion in the last round. Although, it was easy for Roma to interfere and confuse their accounts.
Heading into the last round of that season, Inter were leading with a point more than Juventus. All that was needed was for Hector Cuper's team to defeat Lazio and the title goes to their showcases. Otherwise, they had to listen to the news from Udine where the Old Lady played against the home side Udinese.
Roma also had their calculations. Vučica entered the last round with two points less than Inter and one point less than Juve. However, there was little chance for the Romans to defend their title.
That May 40.000th, Inter fans occupied Rome. According to some data, around 1989 Nerazzurri fans came to the capital of Italy to cheer on their team in the fight for the title, the first since XNUMX.
After 11 minutes of play, Juventus led 2:0 in Udine. The old lady was led by Trezege with his 24th goal in the championship (that year, Trezege and Dario Hubner from Pjaćenca were the top scorers in the league with 24 goals), while the second goal was scored by Del Piero. The Bianconeri had a secure lead, so they listened to the news from Rome.
In Rome, Inter got off to a good start. After a corner, Angelo Peruzzi's weak reaction was used by Christian Vieri to give the Nerazzurri the lead. Vieri, a football globetrotter, just moved from Lazio to Inter in 1999.
However, the home team quickly equalized. Karel Poborski scored a goal, but Inter soon retaliated and after another corner kick, Luigi di Biaggio took the lead 2:1. Inter fans thought that the time had finally come for their team to grab the trophy. But, in that, they were denied by their own player. Slovakian Vratislav Greško, probably the most hated player in the blue and black part of Milan, before going on vacation wanted to head the ball to Toldo, but Poborski sensed it and equalized the result with his second goal.
In the second half, Inter tried to score a third goal. But what Cooper's team failed to do was Zacheroni's. Diego Simeone put Lazio in the lead, and the final score was 4:2, set by Simone Inzaghi.
Inter lost the already seen title, and after the match the first man of Inter, Massimo Moratti, was also frustrated.
“I'm tired, angry. I was sick of everything. No Inter fan wants to hear words of comfort today. And I am one of them," Moratti said.
The match was also remembered for the tears of the great Ronaldo. The Brazilian, whose career at Inter was marked by knee injuries, gave way on the field to Mohamed Kalon in the 78th minute, sat on the bench and cried. It was Il Fenomeno's last match in the Inter jersey. That summer he signed for Real Madrid and won the World Cup with Brazil in South Korea and Japan and proved that he is one of the best players of all time.
On the other hand, at the Friuli Stadium, Juventus players and fans were celebrating.
"To say that we are enjoying this moment is an understatement. It came back to us for that disappointment in Perugia two years ago," Juventus captain Antonio Conte alluded to the year 2000 after the match in Udine. Then, in the last round, Juve lost to Perugia 1:0, so the title was won by Lazio, which defeated Ređina 3:0.
After the match in Udine and the title won, Conte kicked Inter's defender Marko Materazzi. The verbal war started when Materazzi said that Conte could buy himself a wig from the title prize. A quick response from Conte followed:
"I remind Materaci that people don't buy wigs anymore, because they can transplant their hair. "Unfortunately for Materazzi, the brain cannot be transplanted," replied Conte.
And while they celebrated in Juventus and mourned in Inter, there was disappointment in the ranks of Roma. In the last round, Vučica defeated Torino 1:0 with a goal by Antonio Cassano and ended the season in second place, with one point less than Juventus. In the end, the Gialorosi were more ahead of Inter with a point, but it was a weak consolation. The Romans, who were autumn champions that season and had a good chance of defending the title, stumbled where they least expected. Fabio Capello's team managed to draw only a draw (2:2) away to Venice. And Capello later admitted that that glitch cost them the Scudetto.
"We lost the title, without a doubt, in Venice. Mathematically, they were already in the second league, but we only managed to draw a draw," Don Fabio said.
That season also gave birth to silent heroes. A newcomer to the league, the Chievo team, led by aces like Corradi, Cosato, Corinio, Perotta and the famous Luciano (also known as Eribeto, as he played under a false name for a while), under the coach of Luigi del Neri, was one point away from qualifying for the League champion. In the end, the flying donkeys won the fifth place with one point less than Milan.
Verona, Lecce, Fiorentina and Venezia dropped out of Serie A that season. Coach Roberto Mancini and players such as Moreno Torricelli, Enrico Chiesa and Nunjo Gomes left Fiorentina after relegation. Due to the bad financial situation, the club declared bankruptcy and was deprived of the right to use the name. In the end, they did not play in Serie B, but in the fourth highest quality competition, Serie C2 under the name "Associazione Calcio Fiorentina e Florentina Viola", short Fiorentina Viola. Then the Della Valle family took over the club from Vittorio Cecchi Gori, and in 2003 the club regained the right to use the name Fiorentina.
There is no doubt, the matches in the Apennines have always been interesting.
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