THE MOURNING. Son of Valentino, who died in the Superga tragedy, he indissolubly linked his name to the nerazzurri colors: as a player he won four league titles and two European Cups, as a manager he brought Ronaldo to Milan.
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Reading 1 min.“The desire to remember mixes with modesty: how difficult it is to find the best words to say goodbye to someone who wrote history in an indelible and unprecedented way,” thus begins the long tribute from Inter to Sandro Mazzola, who passed away at the age of 83, one of the legends of the Grande Inter. A tribute that retraces all the steps of the nerazzurri icon’s career because Sandro Mazzola “was the history of Inter: he joined as a boy and never left.”
The origins
From the “heavy burden on the shoulders” of the eternal memory of his father Valentino lost in the Superga tragedy. At the time Sandro was just over six years old. But football was in the Mazzola family’s destiny. From childhood, at the age of eight, Sandro wore the Inter jersey. Years learning football, then the epic Juventus-Inter match on June 10, 1961, when Moratti and Herrera fielded the Primavera team in protest, Sandro Mazzola was also there and scored his first goal at just 18 years old from a penalty. A clear sign of what was to come.
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The Grande Inter
Under the guidance of Helenio Herrera, Sandro Mazzola wrote indelible pages of sport. Flag and idol of an unbeatable team, made up of great champions and incredible successes. Sarti, Burgnich, Facchetti, Bedin, Guarneri, Picchi, Jair, Mazzola, Peirò, Suárez, Corso and the rhyme that fills the memories and hearts of nerazzurri fans. Mazzola was the emblem of the Grande Inter. The first great success in the European Cup against Real Madrid in ’64 bears his signature. He won “four league titles, two European Cups, 2 Intercontinental Cups, the top scorer title in Serie A (in 1965 with 17 goals) and in the European Cup (7 goals in 1964). Second in the Ballon d’Or 1971 behind Johan Cruyff,” recalls Inter.
As a manager
Having hung up his boots, he embarked on a career as a manager and sporting director with the most famous signing being Ronaldo the phenomenon – convinced to wear the Beneamata jersey by Mazzola and Moratti – who only on Friday, September 18, celebrated his 50th birthday. A life with the Inter jersey, for the good of Inter, for the love of those colors he helped make great. “He had one last wish – recalls Inter –: ‘To be remembered as a good man, who fights even when it’s impossible to win, like in that 9-1’”
