History of F.C. Internazionale Milano (1990-2004)

This era of F.C. Internazionale Milano history is the most unsuccessful seasons in the history of the club and also called the (Dark times) The 1990s was a period of disappointment. Whilst their great rivals AC Milan and Juventus were achieving success both domestically and in Europe, Inter were left behind, with some mediocre positions in the standings, their worst coming in 1993-94 when they finished just 1 point from relegation. Nevertheless, they achieved some European success with 3 UEFA Cup victories in 1991, 1994 and 1998.

Massimo Moratti arrival

With Massimo Moratti's takeover from Ernesto Pellegrini in 1995 Inter were promised more success with many high profile signings like Ronaldo, Christian Vieri and Hernán Crespo, with Inter twice breaking the world record transfer fee in this period.Fact|date=November 2007 €19.5 million for Ronaldo from FC Barcelona in 1997 and 31 million € for Christian Vieri from Lazio in 1999. However the 1990s remained a decade of disappointment and is the only decade in Inter's history in which they did not win a single Italian Serie A championship. For Inter fans it was difficult to find who in particular was to blame for the troubled times and this led to some icy relations between them and the president, the managers and even some individual players.

Inter chairman Massimo Moratti later became a target of the fans, especially when he sacked the much-loved coach Luigi Simoni after only a few games into the 1998/99 season, after having just received Italian manager of the year award 1998 the day before Massimo Moratti decided to end his contract. In the 1998/99 season Inter failed to qualify for any European competition for the first time in almost 10 years, finishing in a poor eighth place.

1999-2001 seasons

In the 1999/00 season, Massimo Moratti made some major changes, marking once again some high-profile signings. A major coup for Inter was the appointment of former Juventus manager Marcello Lippi. Moreover, Inter were seen by the majority of the fans and press to have finally put together a winning formula. Other signings included Italian and French legends Angelo Peruzzi and Laurent Blanc together with other former Juventus players Christian Vieri and Vladimir Jugovic. Inter were also seen to have an advantage in this season as they had no European "distraction". Once again they failed to win the elusive Scudetto. However they did manage to come close to their first domestic success since 1989 when they reached the Coppa Italia final only to be defeated by Lazio allowing them to win the "Scudetto" and domestic cup double.

The following season another disaster struck. Inter impressed in the Supercoppa Italia match against Lazio and took the lead through new signing Robbie Keane – however, they lost 4-3. Overall, though, they were looking good for the season that was about to start. What followed was another embarrassment, as they were eliminated in the preliminary round of the Champions League by Swedish club Helsingborgs IF. Alvaro Recoba was given the opportunity to equal the tie with a last-minute penalty, yet he missed, hitting the post, and Inter found themselves back at square one as Marcello Lippi, the manager at the time, was sacked after only a single game of the new season following Inter's first ever Serie A defeat to Reggina. Throughout this period, Inter suffered the mocking of their neighbours AC Milan; Milan were having success both domestically and in Europe. Also throughout this period suffered endless defeats to AC Milan including a 6-0 defeat in 2000/01 season. Marco Tardelli, chosen to replace Lippi, failed to improve results, and is remembered by Inter fans as the manager that lost 6-0 the city derby to AC Milan in the 2000/01 season. Other members of the Inter "family" during this period that suffered were the likes of Christian Vieri and Fabio Cannavaro, both of whom had their restaurants in Milan vandalised after defeats against AC Milan.

Inter fans protests throughout this period went from the vandalism to banners being displayed in the stadium against certain players. In some cases fans organised for sections of the stadium to be empty for entire matches, mainly the Curva Nord. Another "protest" that has been debated was during the AC Milan vs Inter UEFA Champions League semi-final in 2005. Fans from the Curva Nord stopped the match by throwing flares onto the pitch after a Esteban Cambiasso goal was disallowed.

Nevertheless, every year, with the all the new signings and new coaches, Inter were deemed one of the favourites for the championship. This led to a popular AC Milan chant against Inter – "Luglio Agosto" (July and August); this was because during the summer months according to the press Inter had won the championship before it had even begun, only for them to crumble when it counted.

2001-2004 season

In 2002, not only did Inter manage to make it to the Uefa cup semi-finals, they were also only 45 minutes away from capturing the Scudetto, when they needed to maintain a one-goal advantage over SS Lazio at Rome's Olimpico stadium. This was the last match of the season, and Inter were top of the Serie A table at kick-off. However, a defeat would see Juventus, who were second, or even AS Roma, in third place, take the title from them. As a result, some SS Lazio fans were actually openly supporting Inter during this match, as an Inter victory would prevent their bitter rivals AS Roma from winning the championship.

Inter were 2-1 up after only 24 minutes. SS Lazio equalised during first half injury time and then scored two more goals in the second half to clinch victory that eventually saw Juventus win the championship after their 2-0 victory away to Udinese.

2002/03 saw Inter take a respectable second place and also managed to make it to the 2003 Champions League semi finals against their bitter rivals AC Milan. Being tied 1-1 with AC Milan, Inter lost on away goals rule. It was another disappointement but they were finally on the right track.

However, once again Massimo Moratti's impatience got the better of him, Hernán Crespo was sold after just one season, and Hector Cuper was fired after only a few games. Alberto Zaccheroni stepped in, a life long Inter fan but also the man who was in charge of SS Lazio's 4-2 victory over Inter in 2002, the fans were sceptical. Zaccheroni brought nothing new to the side, apart from two fantastic wins over Juventus 3-1 in Turin and 3-2 at the San Siro the season was again nothing special. They were embarrassingly eliminated from the UEFA Champions League in the first round finishing 3rd in their group. Furthermore, they only managed to scrape back into the Champions League by finishing in 4th place by only a point over Parma A.C.. Inter's only saving grace in 2003/04 was the arrival of Dejan Stankovic and Adriano in January 2004 both solid players that filled the gap that was left by the departures of Hernán Crespo and Clarence Seedorf.