# 1996–97 Inter Milan season

During the 1996–97 Italian football season, F.C. Internazionale Milano competed in Serie A.

## Season summary

Inter finished third in the championship and reached the UEFA Cup final in Roy Hodgson's first (and only) full season in charge. The third place was Inter's best since the days of Lothar Matthäus and Andreas Brehme in the early 1990s and a starting point for further success in the coming years. The most significant happening for Inter in 1997 was the purchase of Brazilian striker Ronaldo for a record-breaking fee from Barcelona. The biggest disappointment was the fact that Inter failed to beat Schalke 04 in the UEFA Cup final, and lost the second leg on penalties - at home. The loss meant Hodgson was fired, despite his successful season at the helm.

## Squad

    Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Gianluca Pagliuca |
| 2 | DF | ITA | Giuseppe Bergomi |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Alessandro Pistone |
| 4 | DF | ARG | Javier Zanetti |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Fabio Galante |
| 6 | FW | FRA | Youri Djorkaeff |
| 7 | DF | ITA | Salvatore Fresi |
| 8 | MF | ENG | Paul Ince |
| 9 | FW | CHI | Iván Zamorano |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Andrea Mazzantini |
| 14 | MF | NED | Aron Winter |
| 15 | MF | ITA | Sergio D'Autilia |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | DF | ITA | Claudio Riboni |
| 18 | MF | ITA | Nicola Berti |
| 19 | DF | ITA | Massimo Paganin |
| 20 | DF | FRA | Jocelyn Angloma |
| 21 | MF | SUI | Ciriaco Sforza |
| 22 | GK | ITA | Armando Pantanelli |
| 23 | FW | ITA | Maurizio Ganz |
| 24 | MF | ITA | Davide Torretta |
| 25 | DF | ITA | Massimo Tarantino |
| 27 | FW | ITA | Marco Branca |
| 29 | FW | ITA | Arturo Di Napoli |
| 31 | DF | ITA | Matteo Ferrari |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Iván Zamorano | Real Madrid | |
| FW | Nwankwo Kanu | AFC Ajax | |
| MF | Youri Djorkaeff | Paris Saint-Germain | |
| MF | Ciriaco Sforza | Bayern München | |
| MF | Aron Winter | S.S. Lazio | |
| DF | Jocelyn Angloma | Torino F.C. | |
| DF | Fabio Galante | Genoa C.F.C. | |
| DF | Massimo Tarantino | S.S.C. Napoli | |
| GK | Andrea Mazzantini | Venezia F.C. | |
| DF | Matteo Ferrari | S.P.A.L | |
| DF | Luca Mezzano | Torino F.C. | |
| DF | Paolo Tramezzani | Cesena | |
| MF | Igor Shalimov | Lugano | loan ended |
| GK | Paolo Orlandoni | Ancona | loan ended |
| FW | Massimo Marazzina | Foggia | re-purchased |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| DF | Roberto Carlos | Real Madrid | |
| MF | Igor Shalimov | Bologna F.C. | |
| MF | Davide Fontolan | Bologna F.C. | |
| DF | Giovanni Bia | Udinese Calcio | |
| DF | Felice Centofanti | Genoa C.F.C. | |
| DF | Mirko Conte | Piacenza Calcio | |
| DF | Mirko Taccola | S.S.C. Napoli | |
| DF | Paolo Tramezzani | Piacenza Calcio | |
| MF | Alessandro Bianchi | Cesena | |
| MF | Francesco Dell'Anno | Salernitana | |
| MF | Antonio Manicone | Perugia Calcio | |
| FW | Massimo Marazzina | Chievo Verona | |
| FW | Sebastián Rambert | Boca Juniors | loan |
| DF | Luca Mezzano | Torino F.C. | loan |
| GK | Giorgio Frezzolini | Trapani | loan |
| GK | Paolo Orlandoni | Foggia Calcio | loan |
| MF | Pierluigi Orlandini | Hellas Verona | loan |
| FW | Caio | S.S.C. Napoli | loan |
| FW | Marco Delvecchio | A.S. Roma | loan renewed |
| FW | Mohammed Kallon | Lugano | loan renewed |
| FW | Arturo Di Napoli | S.S.C. Napoli | co-ownership renewed |

#### Autumn

In :
| R. | Nome | da | Modalità |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| GK | Marco Fortin | Torres | loan |
| MF | Andrea Seno | Bologna F.C. | |
| MF | Giammarco Frezza | Fidelis Andria | loan |
| FW | Benito Carbone | Sheffield Wednesday | |

#### Winter

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| FW | Arturo Di Napoli | S.S.C. Napoli | re-purchased |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| DF | Gianluca Festa | Middlesbrough F.C. | |
| FW | Gionatha Spinesi | Castel di Sangro | loan |

#### Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 10 | FW | ITA | Benito Carbone (to Sheffield Wednesday) |
| 11 | FW | NGA | Nwankwo Kanu (de-registered) |
| 13 | DF | ITA | Gianluca Festa (to Middlesbrough) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 16 | MF | ITA | Andrea Seno (to Bologna) |
| 26 | DF | ITA | Gianmarco Frezza (to Fidelis Andria) |
| 28 | FW | ITA | Gionatha Spinesi (to Castel di Sangro) |

## Competitions
### Serie A
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Juventus (C) | 34 | 17 | 14 | 3 | 51 | 24 | +27 | 65 | Qualified to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Parma | 34 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 41 | 26 | +15 | 63 | Qualified to Champions League qualifying round |
| 3 | Internazionale | 34 | 15 | 14 | 5 | 51 | 35 | +16 | 59 | Qualification to UEFA Cup |
| 4 | Lazio | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 54 | 37 | +17 | 55 | Qualification to UEFA Cup |
| 5 | Udinese | 34 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 53 | 41 | +12 | 54 | Qualification to UEFA Cup |

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | W | D | D | W | L | W | W | D | D | D | D | L | D | W | W | L | D | D | D | W | W | D | L | W | D | W | W | L | W | W | D | W | D |
| Position | 7 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |

#### Matches
### UEFA Cup
#### First round
#### Final
## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Serie A | Serie A | Coppa | Coppa | UEFA | UEFA |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ITA | Pagliuca | 53 | -49 | 34 | −35 | 7 | −6 | 12 | −8 |
| 20 | DF | FRA | Angloma | 45 | 3 | 28+2 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 7+2 | 2 |
| 7 | DF | ITA | Fresi | 44 | 1 | 28+1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 19 | DF | ITA | Paganin | 49 | 1 | 31+1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ITA | Pistone | 39 | 0 | 23+3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7+2 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | ARG | Zanetti J | 50 | 4 | 32+1 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | ENG | Ince | 38 | 10 | 24 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 1 |
| 21 | MF | SUI | Sforza | 40 | 4 | 24+2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 9+2 | 3 |
| 6 | MF | FRA | Djorkaeff | 49 | 17 | 31+2 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 8+2 | 2 |
| 9 | FW | CHI | Zamorano | 48 | 14 | 26+5 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 2 |
| 23 | FW | ITA | Ganz | 48 | 20 | 20+10 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 8+3 | 8 |
| 12 | GK | ITA | Mazzantini | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | ITA | Galante | 28 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 27 | FW | ITA | Branca | 31 | 6 | 16+5 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 3+3 | 1 |
| 2 | DF | ITA | Bergomi | 36 | 0 | 16+3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 9+1 | 0 |
| 4 | MF | NED | Winter | 42 | 1 | 14+10 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 7+4 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | ITA | Berti | 37 | 1 | 5+18 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 3+4 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | ITA | Festa | 11 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 30 | FW | ITA | Di Napoli | 6 | 0 | 0+6 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | ITA | Carbone | 4 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | ITA | D'Autilia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | ITA | Seno | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | NGA | Kanu | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | | ITA | Pantanelli | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | ITA | Spinesi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | DF | ITA | Tarantino | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Source: http://calcio-seriea.net/presenze/1996/1123/