game in the season. In the next two seasons he was still first choice, but in the season 2001–02 he began to be challenged severely by the young Italian players like Gennaro Gattuso and Massimo Ambrosini. He scored his first goal for the club on 6 December 2000; the only goal in a 1–0 win at Deportivo de La Coruña in the UEFA Champions League. In the 2001–02 season he played less than half of Milan's games in Serie A, and following only eight of 34 matches in the 2002–03 season, he moved to Inter Milan – the cross-city rivals of A.C. Milan – before the season 2003–04. Through his five years at A.C. Milan, Helveg had been selected for Denmark in both the Euro 2000 as well as 2002 FIFA World Cup. While the Euro 2000 was no success for neither Denmark nor Helveg, who had an injury which limited him to playing a combined 98 minutes in two games, the 2002 World Cup gave him more time on the pitch. He played full-time in the three successful group stage matches, until another injury forced him to leave the pitch in the seventh minute of Denmark's final game before elimination. Veteran years In Inter Milan, he rejoined his former manager in both Udinese and A.C. Milan, Alberto Zaccheroni. Helveg regained some of his form and played 22 games in Serie A and six matches in the European cups. In this his last year in Italy, he was from time to time also used in the left side of the defence. He was once more a part of a European Championship tournament, when he played full-time in Denmark's four games at the Euro 2004. Helveg was named national team captain following the retirement of René Henriksen after the Euro 2004 tournament. After a year at Inter Milan, Helveg moved on to play in England in the summer 2004. He joined Norwich City on a free transfer. Norwich had been promoted to the English FA Premier League and saw Helveg as a signing who would bring class and experience to the side. His signing was seen as something of a coup for Norwich, but Helveg struggled to reproduce the form shown in Serie A and on the international scene, and he lost his place in the starting line-up in the opening weeks of the season. After a long absence, partly due