Cesare Maldini, the father of team captain Paolo, was appointed and prospects immediately improved. Maldini's official coaching debut at Milan started with a 4–0 win over Bari, featuring a young Antonio Cassano. It was also under Maldini's leadership that Milan defeated their city rivals Inter with an outstanding score of 6–0, a score which has never been repeated and in which Serginho starred in the match. After this peak of form, however, Milan started losing again, including a disappointing 1–0 defeat to Vicenza, with the only goal in the match scored by a young Luca Toni. In spite of these results, the Milan board of directors were adamant that Milan reach fourth place in the league at the end of the season, but Maldini failed and the team ended sixth.