Italy and Inter legend Mazzola dies at 83

Sandro Mazzola wearning an Inter shirt (Inter.it)

Italy and Inter legend Sandro Mazzola has died at the age of 83.

Former Inter and Italy star Mazzola, widely regarded as one of Italy’s greatest players, passed away on Saturday at the age of 83 due to an illness.

Inter pay tribute to legendary Mazzola

“FC Internazionale Milano, its President Giuseppe Marotta, Vice President Javier Zanetti, head coach Cristian Chivu and his staff, the players, and everyone at Inter mourn with profound sorrow the passing of Sandro Mazzola, a Nerazzurri and world football legend, and embrace his family as they remember him,” Inter wrote in a statement.

“The desire to remember is mixed with a sense of restraint: how difficult it is to find the right words to say goodbye to someone who truly wrote history, leaving a permanent and unprecedented mark.

“And then there is the melancholy that is already here and will never leave us, because we can still picture him here, between the Club headquarters and Appiano, recalling Puskas, Herrera, Suarez and Corso, one anecdote after another, immediately linking them to the present, with his passion for Inter shining in his eyes, talking about Lautaro and our Inter, the team of today and the team of always.

“Sandro Mazzola was one of the greatest footballers in history. Not only in the history of the Nerazzurri. He was Inter’s history: he joined the Club as a boy and never left it. A heavy burden was on his shoulders, the memory of a father who seemed invincible. And in his destiny were two legendary Nerazzurri who would effectively raise him, accompanying him on his journey through history.”

He was the son of another legendary footballer, Valentino Mazzola, who died in the Superga air disaster, along with the whole ‘Grande Torino’ team, when Sandro wasn’t even seven.

A product of the Inter academy, Sandro Mazzola spent his whole career with the Nerazzurri. During the 1963-64 campaign, he helped Inter win its first-ever Champions League title, scoring seven goals in the competition, including two in the Final against Real Madrid, which Inter won 3-1 in Wien.

Mazzola once revealed that at the end of that game, Ferenc Puskas gave him his shirt, saying: “I once played against your father and you honoured his memory. Congratulations.”

Inter and Mazzola won the Champions League- the European Cup at that time – in the following campaign as well.

Mazzola, an attacking midfielder and support striker, scored 162 goals in 572 matches with the Nerazzurri.

He also won four Serie A titles and two Intercontinental Cups with the club.

He was the Champions League’s top goal-scorer in 1962.64 and the best Serie A scorer in 1964-65.

With the Italy national team, he won the Euros in 1968 and reached the Final against Brazil in 1970.

During that campaign, the question of how to accommodate Mazzola and Gianni Rivera became one of the Azzurri’s defining talking points, with coach Ferruccio Valcareggi unwilling to field the pair together.

Mazzola was included nine times in the Ballon d’Or list and finished second in 1971 behind Johan Cruijff.