Sandro Mazzola: Inter (1960 – 1977)
Alessandro Mazzola’s life could have been straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster movie. Son of a football legend (Valentino) who tragically died in the Superga Air disaster of 1949 when little Sandro was just 6 years old, he went on to become a legend in his own right, with Internazionale.
The attacking genius of the team that was known as La Grande Inter, Mazzola won numerous titles including two back-to-back European and Intercontinental Cups in the same years (1964 and 1965), as well as four Serie A titles. Blessed with great close control, superb passing range and an eye for goal, Mazzola was creativity personified and spent his entire professional career wearing the black and blue of Inter, making well over 417 appearances and scoring over 116 goals.
Forever linked with Nerazzurri, perhaps bizarrely, he is also intrinsically linked with fellow fantasista and derby rival Gianni Rivera, with whom he had to infamously share the creative role for the Azzurri during the 1970 World Cup tournament. As the coach at the time, Ferruccio Valcareggi, refused to believe they could play together in the same team, he would use Mazzola in the first half of a match, then substitute him for Rivera, who would start the second; a solution he called the staffetta – the relay.
1 Comment