An amazing turn around in the last game allowed Lazio to win their second scudetto.
The previous season had seen Milan win the scudetto in the last match of the season. The Rossoneri were at one stage seven points behind leaders Lazio but they capitalised on the Biancocelesti two consecutive defeats against Roma and Juve and overtook the Romans in the last but one game. Lazio had room for recrimination. In the penultimate match in Florence, the Biancocelesti were held to a draw and denied a clear penalty by a distracted referee.
In the summer transfer window there were some big signings: Christian Vieri (Inter from Lazio), Andrij Shevchenko (Milan from Dynamo Kyiv), Vincenzo Montella (Roma from Sampdoria) and Juan Sebastian Veron (Lazio from Parma).
Inter changed managers. Marcello Lippi was the new head coach. In had also come Angelo Peruzzi, Laurent Blanc and Gigi Di Biagio plus Clarence Seedorf from Real Madrid in the winter session. Roma also changed managers and Zdenek Zeman was substituted by Fabio Capello. Van der Sar substituted Peruzzi at Juventus in goal.
Inter were the favourites with the attacking duo Vieri-Ronaldo. A bit behind were Lazio, Juve and Milan. Roma could be an interesting outsider. Parma and Fiorentina could also do well.
The seven sisters of Serie A.
Their managers were legendary: Lippi (Inter), Capello (Roma), Sven-Goran Eriksson (Lazio), Carlo Ancelotti (Juventus), Alberto Zaccheroni (Milan), Giovanni Trapattoni (Fiorentina), Alberto Malesani (Parma). Serie A promised to be exciting.
July-September
The season started early for Perugia and Juventus, involved in the Intertoto Cup. Perugia beat Pobeda in July but then were knocked out by Trabzonspor. Juventus in the third round in July eliminated Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, Rostselmash in the semis and Rennes in the final in August. They would play in the UEFA Cup.
In the Super Coppa final in August, Parma surprisingly won it for the first time beating Milan.
In the preliminary rounds of the Champions League in August Fiorentina beat Widzew Lodz 5-1 on aggregate but Parma were eliminated by Rangers.
Serie A started with one game in August and three in September. Roma and Inter drew, the latter then destroyed Parma 5-1 at home. Lazio also beat the Emiliani. Early stages and a long way to go to May.
In September there were three games of the first group phase of the CL. Lazio topped their group thanks to two wins and a draw, Fiorentina were a bit behind with just two points, and Milan were joint leaders with Hertha BSC in their group. For the first time without the Cup Winners Cup, the winners of the national cups played in the UEFA Cup. In the first round Udinese, Roma, Parma, Juventus and Bologna all went through.
Inter 10, Lazio 10, Milan 8, Fiorentina 8, Roma 8, Reggina 8, Juventus 7, Udinese 5, Lecce 5, Bari 5, Perugia 4, Torino 4, Verona 3, Venezia 2, Piacenza 2, Parma 2, Bologna 2, Cagliari 1
October
Four games in October. Roma won in Florence but lost at home to Juventus, Lazio drew with Milan (spectacular 4-4) and Inter while the Rossoneri won the derby. There was already a gap between Lazio and Juventus and the other sisters. At the other end Venezia and Cagliari were already in trouble.
In the Champions League Lazio had already qualified top in their group and went to the second group stage. Fiorentina were second after beating Arsenal at Wembley but still needed a point against Barcelona in the last match, Milan needed to beat Galatasaray in Istanbul and hope Chelsea beat Hertha to continue. In the UEFA Cup’s first leg of the second round victories for Udinese, Roma, Parma and Juventus. Bologna needed to win against Anderlecht in the second leg to go through.
Lazio 18, Juventus 17, Milan 14, Inter 14, Roma 13, Perugia 13, Parma 12, Udinese 12, Torino 10, Bologna 10, Reggina 9, Fiorentina 9, Lecce 8, Verona 8, Bari 7, Piacenza 6, Venezia 5, Cagliari 4
November
Roma caught up with Lazio and Juventus. They beat Lazio in the derby whereas Juventus drew theirs and with Lazio but beat Milan, who in turn won against Parma. The Milanese were closer to the top.
Milan lost to Galatasaray in CL and were out of Europe, Fiorentina got that point they needed and went through as did Lazio. The first game of the second group stage saw Fiorentina beat Manchester United and Lazio win in Marseille.
In the UEFA Cup Udinese, Roma, Parma, Juventus and Bologna all went through to the third round. In the first leg of the latter, Parma, Juve and Roma won, Bologna drew at home and would have a difficult match against Galatasaray, Udinese lost at home to Bayer Leverkusen and had a foot out the door.
Roma 22, Lazio 22, Juventus 22, Inter 20, Milan 20, Parma 18, Perugia 16, Udinese 15, Bologna 14, Bari 14, Fiorentina 14, Torino 14, Lecce 14, Piacenza 10, Reggina 10, Verona 8, Venezia 6, Cagliari 5
December
Three games to end the year. Lazio beat Fiorentina, Juventus beat Inter but drew in Florence, Parma beat Roma at home. The Biancocelesti closed the year top. Behind Venezia and Cagliari in deep trouble.
In Champions League Lazio drew with Chelsea and were joint first in their group, Fiorentina were leading theirs. In the UEFA Cup Juventus, Roma, Parma and surprisingly Udinese qualified for the next round, Bologna were eliminated.
First games for the big teams in Coppa Italia and no real surprises with the exception of Venezia eliminating Udinese.
Lazio 31, Juventus 29, Parma 27, Roma 25, Milan 24, Inter 23, Bari 20, Perugia 20, Udinese 19, Fiorentina 18, Lecce 18, Bologna 17, Verona 15, Torino 14, Reggina 12, Piacenza 11, Venezia 9, Cagliari 7
January
Five games to start the year. Lazio lost first place by dropping points with the smaller teams, Fiorentina beat Inter, Parma-Juve and Milan-Roma ended in draws, Inter beat Roma. Further back Venezia improved and Cagliari also looked as if things were starting to work. Piacenza last.
In the quarterfinals of the Coppa Italia Inter eliminated Milan, Lazio beat Juventus and very surprisingly Cagliari defeated Roma and Venezia brushed off Fiorentina. Semi-finals in February: Lazio-Venezia and Cagliari-Inter
Juventus 40, Lazio 39, Inter 35, Roma 35, Milan 35, Parma 32, Udinese 28, Lecce 27, Bari 26, Bologna 26, Fiorentina 25, Perugia 23, Torino 21, Reggina 17, Venezia 16, Verona 16, Cagliari 12, Piacenza 11
February
Four games. Parma lost to Fiorentina but drew with Inter and Lazio who lost to Milan. Juventus beat Roma and now had a four-point lead. The Giallorossi crushed Fiorentina who were now far behind the leaders. Milan, Inter and Roma were creeping up behind Lazio.
Parma and Udinese played the first leg of the 4th round of the UEFA Cup, the former winning and the latter losing.
In the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia Lazio had no problems with Venezia (7-2 on aggregate), Inter suffered a bit against Cagliari but reached the final. The first leg, Lazio-Inter, would be played in April and the second after the end of the campionato.
Juventus 50, Lazio 46, Milan 45, Inter 43, Roma 42, Parma 34, Udinese 33, Fiorentina 30, Bologna 28, Bari 28, Lecce 28, Perugia 26, Reggina 25, Torino 24, Verona 22, Venezia 19, Cagliari 17, Piacenza 16
March
Four games for the beginning of Spring. Juventus went to +9 on Lazio and it looked as if it was all over for the scudetto but then they lost in Milan and Lazio won the derby. Still +6 but the next game would be Juventus-Lazio. Inter won the derby, Juventus won theirs and earlier in the month Lazio and Inter drew. Piacenza and Cagliari were practically in Serie B.
Fiorentina missed out on the quarterfinals of the Champions League. In their final match they needed to beat Bordeaux by a lot of goals but they drew. As far as Lazio were concerned, with one game to go they were second behind Chelsea and a point ahead of Feyenoord. A win in London secured top spot and the quarterfinals. They would play Valencia.
In the UEFA Cup all the Italian teams were out. Parma, Juventus, Roma and Udinese were eliminated by Werder Bremen, Celta VIgo, Leeds United and Slavia Prague respectively.
Juventus 59, Lazio 53, Milan 49, Inter 48, Parma 46, Roma 45, Udinese 40, Fiorentina 39, Bologna 34, Perugia 33, Reggina 32, Lecce 32, Verona 30, Bari 28, Torino 27, Venezia 24, Cagliari 20, Piacenza 17
April
The five games that meant everything. Lazio won in Turin and closed the gap to -3 but a draw in Florence took them back to -5. In the last game of the month, Juventus lost to Verona and now the Biancocelesti were just two points behind with two games to go. In the Champions League qualification battle Milan had a two point advantage over Inter and Parma, Roma needed a miracle. Venezia, Cagliari and Piacenza were in Serie B, Bari and Torino were fighting to avoid the last place with the former having an advantage of two points.
In the Champions League quarter finals, Lazio were eliminated by Valencia. A collapse in Spain was not remedied at home.
In the first leg of the Coppa Italia final Lazio beat Inter 2-1 coming from behind. Horrendous injury for Ronaldo.
Juventus 68, Lazio 66, Milan 57, Inter 55, Parma 55, Roma 52, Udinese 47, Fiorentina 45, Verona 41, Bologna 39, Reggina 39, Perugia 39, Lecce 37, Bari 35, Torino 33, Venezia 26, Cagliari 21, Piacenza 20
May
The last two games of the season. In the penultimate match Juve beat Parma but the Gialloblu were denied a goal for a non existent foul. Big scandal and uproar in Italy. In the last game Juventus had a two-point lead over the Biancocelesti. While Lazio had finished their match at the Olimpico beating Reggina 3-0, between the first and second half of Perugia-Juventus there was a massive storm that flooded the pitch. The second half started an hour later than it should have. Perugia scored with Alessandro Calori and Juve were unable to turn the game around. Lazio won their second scudetto.
Milan and Inter, following a playoff against Parma, would join the top two in next year’s Champions League, Roma and Fiorentina join the Emiliani in the UEFA Cup.
Torino, Venezia, Cagliari and Piacenza were relegated. Vicenza, Atalanta, Brescia and Napoli were promoted to Serie A.
Top scorer was Andrij Shevchenko with 24 goals ahead of Gabriel Batistuta and Hernan Crespo.
The second leg of the Coppa Italia final ended 0-0 so Lazio won the double (scudetto and Coppa Italia).
Lazio 72, Juventus 71, Milan 61, Inter 58, Parma 58, Roma 54, Fiorentina 51, Udinese 50, Verona 43, Perugia 42, Bologna 40, Reggina 40, Lecce 40, Bari 39, Torino 36, Venezia 26, Cagliari 22, Piacenza 20