Farewell to Sandro Mazzola, idol of Herrera’s ‘Grande Inter’ and the national team
He won four Scudetti, two European Cups, two Intercontinental Cups, and was the top scorer in Serie A (in 1965 with 17 goals) and in the European Cup (7 goals in 1964). He finished second in the 1971 Ballon d’Or, behind Johan Cruyff
Key points
The world of football (and beyond) is in mourning. Sandro Mazzola, a legend of Inter and the national team, has died. He was 83. Inter announced the news in a statement. “He was one of the greatest footballers in history. Not just in Inter’s history,” reads the club’s lengthy statement.
Wearing the national team shirt, he won the 1968 European Championship and was one of the key players in the “Match of the Century”, the semi-final of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, which Italia won 4–3 against Germany. At the end of his playing career, Mazzola embarked on a career as a football executive, first at Inter and then at Genoa. He subsequently returned to Milan at the request of the then chairman, Massimo Moratti. He ended his career behind a desk as a director at Torino before becoming a pundit and television commentator.
The big league clash between Roma and Inter, scheduled for 6.00 pm today, Saturday 19 September, at the Stadio Olimpico, will be played in memory of Mazzola: the Inter and Roma players will take to the pitch wearing black armbands.
Mazzola: idol of Herrera’s Grande Inter
“The desire to remember is mingled with modesty: how difficult it is to find the right words to bid farewell to someone who has left an indelible and unprecedented mark on history,” thus begins Inter’s lengthy tribute. A tribute that traces every step of the Nerazzurri icon’s career, because Sandro Mazzola “was the history of Inter: he joined as a young lad and never left”.
Valentino’s father, who died in the Superga air disaster
From the ‘heavy burden on his shoulders’ of the eternal memory of his father Valentino, who was lost in the Superga air disaster. At the time, Sandro was just over six years old. But football was in the Mazzola family’s destiny. From a young age, at the age of eight, Sandro wore the Inter shirt. Years spent learning the game, then the epic Juventus v Inter match on 10 June 1961, when Moratti and Herrera fielded the reserve team in protest; Sandro Mazzola was there too, and scored his first goal – from the penalty spot – at just 18 years of age. A clear sign of what was to come.
