F.C. Internazionale Milano aimed at winning its first Serie A title since 1989, but crashed down to earth with a bang already when losing out to Swedish champions Helsingborg in a Champions League qualifying fixture, which rendered Marcello Lippi losing his job. Marco Tardelli was hired as his replacement, but he could not repeat the results the club had achieved in the season before, despite one of its two star strikers Christian Vieri being fit for the whole season. Inter especially lacked solidness in the defence, and French goalkeeper Sébastien Frey and his compatriot Laurent Blanc took the blame, both being sold in the summer. Tardelli was not given a new contract, as Inter signed up Héctor Cúper from Valencia as their new coach, with several new players arriving.