Inter Milan announced on Saturday that former Italy striker Sandro Mazzola had died aged 83, following a career devoted entirely to the Serie A club and spent during one of the most distinguished eras in the team’s history.
Mazzola’s record and honours with Inter
Mazzola spent his entire 17-year professional career with Inter Milan, making 565 appearances and scoring 158 goals. He helped the club win four Italian league titles and two European Cups, alongside his international achievements with Italy.
In a statement published on its official website, Inter said Mazzola was ‘one of the greatest footballers in history, and not just in the history of the Nerazzurri’, adding that he was part of the club’s own history after joining as a boy and remaining associated with it throughout his career. At international level, Mazzola was part of the Italy team that won the European Championship in 1968 and played for the side that reached the World Cup final in Mexico in 1970.
The Superga tragedy in which he lost his father
Mazzola lost his father, Valentino, when he was six. His father had played for Italy and was one of Torino’s leading stars before being killed in the 1949 Superga air disaster, when the plane carrying the entire Torino team crashed while returning from a friendly match in Lisbon.
Mazzola began his career with Inter’s first team at the age of 18, in a match against Juventus in which the club fielded a number of young players. The game followed a decision by the Italian federation to replay the match after overturning a 2-0 forfeit win awarded to Inter because Juventus supporters had invaded the pitch.
Mazzola had completed a school examination before that match, then travelled to Turin to take part. As a child, he had worked as a ball boy and club mascot before scoring Inter’s only goal from the penalty spot in a 9-1 defeat by Juventus. Mazzola quickly became a regular and played a pivotal role in Inter’s golden era.
In 1964, he led the team to its first European title, scoring twice in a 3-1 win over Real Madrid in the European Cup final, then helping the club retain the trophy the following season. Mazzola retired from football in 1977 before later becoming sporting director at Inter Milan and then holding the same position at Torino, the club where his father made his name before his death.
Inter concluded its statement by saying that its moustachioed star had shone on the pitch and that his presence remained eternal. It added that Mazzola had wanted to be remembered as a man who never stopped fighting, even when victory seemed impossible, recalling his 9-1 defeat by Juventus at the start of his career.
