Inter Rewind | Ronaldo and Vieri among the goals against Verona

While Ronaldo and Christian Vieri were part of the same Inter squad over three seasons they only played in the same team 11 times. 

The duo were a dream strike force who had the fans in raptures on the few occasions they got to see them working their magic together. The Brazilian and Italian would combine with intelligent first time passes, wonderful one-twos, and seemed at times to operate on their own astral plane.

Sadly, due to Ronaldo suffering a recurring serious knee injury, the Nerazzurri faithful were only treated to these two maestros in the same side on a handful of occasions.

While their minute count together on the pitch totalled only 667 they certainly made the most of it; during this time Ronaldo and Vieri notched nine goals apiece. With the two of them in the same team Inter averaged a goal every 37 minutes. 

However, there were only two matches in which both of them found the net. The first of these occasions came on 9 December 2001 as Inter claimed a 3-1 away victory against Brescia. This was Ronaldo’s long-awaited comeback: almost two years prior to this he had suffered the first of his knee injuries against Lecce. In this game the Brazilian found the net and Vieri scored a brace, on a day which is also remembered for the passing of Peppino Prisco.

The second of such occasions came in a midweek fixture on 19 December 2001, a rescheduled game against Hellas Verona. While in the Brescia match it was Luca Castellazzi who was left spellbound in goal by the genius shown by the Nerazzurri frontline, this time around Fabrizio Ferron was the victim between the sticks to Ronnie and Bobo’s talent.

In this game, which Inter won 3-0, Vieri was the first of the dream duo to score, set up by Andres Guglielminpietro. It was then Ronaldo’s turn to strike, nodding in a cross from Sergio Conceicao. San Siro roared, and the Portuguese winger was overjoyed with his contribution. Ronaldo then rounded off the scoring with a typical effort, exhibiting his exquisite dribbling skills before slotting home.

THE 11 MATCHES WHICH FEATURED BOTH VIERI AND RONALDO PLAYING TOGETHER FOR INTER

While they were on the pitch in 11 different games they only completed the full 90 minutes together on two occasions, against Chievo and Brescia. They scored nine goals each in these 11 matches but the only times in which they both found the scoresheet was against Brescia and Verona.

29/08/1999 | Inter 3-0 Hellas Verona 3-0 (Vieri 16, Vieri 53, Vieri 65) | Vieri started, Ronaldo came on at half-time.  03/10/1999 | Inter 2-1 Piacenza (58 Panucci 58, Ronaldo 69, Dionigi 83) | Vieri started, Ronaldo came on after 52 minutes and scored. 17/10/1999 | Venezia 1-0 Inter (Maniero 46) | Ronaldo started but was taken off after 62 minutes, Vieri came on after 57 minutes. 23/10/1999 | Inter 1-2 Milan (Ronaldo 19, Shevchenko 73, Weah 87) | Vieri and Ronaldo both started, Ronaldo was sent off after 31 minutes. 09/12/2001 | Brescia 1-3 Inter (Ronaldo 18, Tare 20, Vieri 64, Vieri 70) | Vieri and Ronaldo both started, Ronaldo substituted in the 67th minute. 15/12/2001 | Inter 1-2 Chievo (Corradi 19, Vieri 25,  Marazzina 53) | Vieri and Ronaldo started and played the full 90 minutes.  19/12/2001 | Inter 3-0 Hellas Verona 3-0 (Vieri 18, Ronaldo 52, Ronaldo 55) | Vieri and Ronaldo started, Ronaldo subbed off after 75 minutes. 23/12/2001 | Piacenza 2-3 Inter (Vieri 44, Gautieri 54, Kallon 69, Gautieri 74, Vieri 83) | Vieri and Ronaldo started, Ronaldo taken off after 67 minutes.  14/04/2002 | Inter 2-1 Brescia (Guardiola 28, Ronaldo 79, Ronaldo 82) | Vieri and Ronaldo started and played the full 90 minutes.  28/04/2002 | Inter 3-1 Piacenza (Cordoba 7, Matuzalem 35, Recoba 70, Ronaldo 80) Vieri and Ronaldo started, Ronaldo taken off after 81 minutes.  05/05/2002 | Lazio 4-2 Inter (Vieri 12, Poborsky 19, Di Biagio 24, Poborsky 45, Simeone 55, Inzaghi 73) | Vieri and Ronaldo both started, Ronaldo taken off after 78 minutes.