Inter started 1999-00 season with a lot hope. Coming off a disappointing season the year before where the team finished eighth in the league. The club also cycled through 4 managers between Luigi Simoni, Mircea Lucescu, Luciano Castellini and Roy Hodgson and finally appointed Marcelo Lippi before the start of 1999-00 season, hoping to end the ten-year long title drought! To reinforce the squad, the team also made a splash on the transfer market.
Signing Christian Vieri from Scudetto runners-up Lazio for a world-record fee at the time of €49 million, along with Luigi Di Biagio, Laurent Blanc, Angelo Peruzzi and Christian Panucci in the summer. Nerazzurri also had a noticeable exodus after the disastrous season, with Giuseppe Bergomi retiring, Youri Djorkaeff leaving for Kaiserslautern in Bundasliga, Gianluca Pagliuca heading to Bologna and Diego Simeone transferring to Lazio, among the noticeable players. A young prospect named Andrea Pirlo was also sent on loan to Reggina in search of more game time to help develop.
Parma were going through their golden generation and were considered a strong Serie A side at the time. They were coming off a fourth place finish the year before, started the 1999-00 season with ambitions to contend for the Scudetto. They started their season by tying first two games against Perugia and Bologna respectively. Going to San Siro for the third round match against Inter, they were desperate to get their first win of the season.
Alberto Malesani had Parma lined up in a 3-4-3 formation with Buffon in goal, Lassissi, Thuram and Cannavaro in defense. Midfield quartet of Serena, Fuser, Baggio, Vanoli and attacking trident of Crespo, Ortega and Di Vaio. To counter Parma’s line-up, Marcelo Lippi had Inter lined up in a 3-5-2 formation with Peruzzi in goal, Panucci, Blanc and Simic in defense. Midfield five of Moriero, Zanetti, Di Biagio, Georgatos, Sousa and striking duo of Zamorano and Vieri.
Right from the start, both teams came out swinging and showing good attacking intent. Both teams trying to rotate possession between both wings and attacking from the flanks. First scoring chance of the match came for Inter when Parma failed to clear the pass intended for Zamorano and hit it straight to Vieri. He played a perfectly timed pass between Thuram and Cannavaro to give Zamorano an uncontested one-on-one shot at goal which he managed to get past Buffon to give Inter an early 1-0 lead. Nerazzurri were not ahead for long as Parma started applying pressure to get back on level terms.
At fourteenth minute mark, Marco Di Vaio won the ball in the midfield and started a quick counter-attack, running through the middle and finding Hernan Crespo at the edge of the box with Dario Simic defending him. Despite being well covered, Crespo received the ball with his back towards the goal, dragged in behind to create just enough space to chip the ball in the far left corner over Peruzzi, giving him no chance to parry it away. A world class strike silence the Nerazzurri faithful in a packed crowd at San Siro, as Parma were back on level terms at 1-1.
Game looked in balance again when play resumed. Inter continued to attack from the wings regularly to try and regain the lead. Parma stayed compact and closing down on defense quickly, not giving any space to home team. At seventeenth minute mark, Zanetti got fouled approximately 40-yards out on the right wing. Di Biagio caught Parma defense off guard and took the free-kick quickly and passed it straight to Vieri at the right edge of the box with Thuram defending him well.
Vieri received the ball with his back towards the goal, he pushed the ball to his right, creating enough room to turn and struck a beautiful curled shot in the top left corner of the goal, giving Gigi Buffon no chance to save it. It was a kind of world class strike the best of defenders and goal-keepers feel helpless against, even forced Roberto Baggio to give Vieri a standing ovation from the crowd! In a moment of true brilliance, Vieri showed why Moratti was willing to splash world-record transfer fee to sign him for his beloved team.
Parma continued to fight back and bring the game back on level terms again. With the match continuously flowing back and forth, both teams created chances on goal. Defense putting a strong performance thus far and comfortably dealing all chances thrown their way, until thirty-eighth minute mark when Vieri received a long ball from Georgatos and dragged the ball towards the left wing, holding up play to let others to make a run inside the box. He crossed the ball the center where Moriero received it uncontested and struck it on the volley to score third goal for Inter giving a comfortable 3-1 lead going into half-time.
Lippi was visibly ecstatic with his team’s performance going into half-time, a welcome sight for the packed crowd at San Siro. Second half started with Inter pressing on looking to seal the victory and Parma still putting up a tough fight, looking to get even and get their season on track. At 62-minute mark, Georgatos intercepted a pass from Thuram and found Vieri on the left wing, making a run to start a quick counter-attack. Catching Parma off-guard, he found plenty of space with Thuram trying to desperately get back in defense, he played a perfect cross for Zamorano who met the ball at the far right post for an easy tap in goal, giving Inter a comprehensive 4-1 lead. To make matters worse for Parma and Lillian Thuram, he scored an own-goal to cap a nightmare at San Siro, which ended the game with a scoreline of 5-1 in favor of Nerazzurri.
