Inter Milan 1998

Coach: Luigi Simoni

Ronaldo Nazário's first full season at Inter Milan, following his world-record transfer from Barcelona in the summer of 1997, delivered the 1998 UEFA Cup, beating fellow Italian side Lazio 3-0 in an all-Italian final in Paris. The young Brazilian striker, still only 21, was already the most electrifying forward in world football, combining searing pace with technical ability rarely seen in a player of his physical power, and his performances that season went a long way to justifying the enormous fee Inter had paid to prise him away from Barcelona. Managed by Luigi Simoni, the squad also featured a young Javier Zanetti, who would go on to make a club-record number of appearances across two decades at Inter and later serve as captain, alongside experienced figures like Giuseppe Bergomi providing defensive leadership. Ronaldo's time at Inter would later be defined as much by devastating knee injuries suffered from 1999 onward as by his brilliance, making this 1997-98 season — largely injury-free and statistically excellent — the high point of a spell at the club that both fans and Ronaldo himself have described as agonisingly close to greater glory.