Former Inter president Massimo Moratti hospitalised with pneumonia

These are hours of apprehension for Massimo Moratti. The former Inter president, who celebrated his eightieth birthday last May with a surprise party organised by his five children and wife Milly, is hospitalised at the Humanitas Institute in Rozzano with pneumonia.

His condition is being kept in the strictest confidence. According to reports in Milanese sporting circles, he would not be in a critical condition; however, the situation remains serious after medical staff intubated him because he was struggling to breathe on his own.

"Forza Massimo #Moratti"; "Noooooo, I'm so sorry. A big good luck!", are just some of the numerous social messages posted in these hours by Nerazzurri fans, bound by a special affection to their 'Presidentissimo' and worried about his health condition. At the helm of Inter from 1995, when he bought the club from the recently deceased Ernesto Pellegrini, to 2004 and then again from 2006 to 2013, with him the club won an impressive 16 trophies. His name is particularly linked to the historic hat-trick of the 2009-2010 season: championship, Coppa Italia and, 45 years after his father Angelo's Champions League, the Champions League.

'Inter is a dimension of life: there is something different about this team,' Moratti said on the occasion of his eightieth birthday. 'For me, Inter was a choice: it did not happen by chance. For me it is a great sense of duty and respect, but it remains a beautiful thing, it was a pleasure. It is a love, to be lived for better or for worse, but always with the idea of being in love. I don't know what I was for Inter: I certainly tried to do what I thought was right for Inter, I may have been wrong many times'.

In addition to his passion for football and, above all, for Inter, Massimo Moratti also inherited from his father Angelo the entrepreneurial activity in the oil sector with Saras, a company based in Sarroch (Cagliari), of which he was president after his brother Gian Marco. A position he held from 2018 until early last year, when the group was sold to Dutch company Vitol. An operation put in place to 'maximise the future success of the Sarroch refinery,' he said, 'in the interest of all stakeholders, offering an already solid and structured company like Saras the best tools to face the challenges of the future'.