the championship after their 2–0 victory away to Udinese.

The following season another disaster struck. Inter impressed in the Supercoppa Italia match against Lazio and took the lead through new signing Robbie Keane and Hakan Sükür—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, but Helsingborg goalkeeper Sven Andersson made the save. 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 Milan; Milan were having success both domestically and in Europe. Also throughout this period suffered endless defeats to 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 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 Milan.
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 Lazio at Rome's Stadio Olimpico. This was the last match of the season, and Inter were top of the Serie A table at kick-off. However, a defeat saw Juventus, who were second, or even Roma, in third place, take the title from them. As a result, some Lazio fans were actually openly supporting Inter during this match, as an Inter victory would prevent Lazio's bitter rivals Roma from winning the championship. Inter were 2–1 up after only 24 minutes. 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 2002–03 Champions League semi-finals against their bitter rivals Milan. Being tied 1–1 with Milan, Inter lost on the away goals rule. It was another disappointment 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 lifelong Inter fan but also the man who was in charge of 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. 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.