Ciao Sandro, an eternal Inter icon: remembering Sandro 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.

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 had one shirt for his whole life, and one dream. A dream to build himself without a father, lost in the Superga air disaster that claimed the lives of the Grande Torino team. Alessandro, known to everyone as Sandro or Sandrino, was six years, five months and 23 days old. He saw the devastated faces of the people embracing him and running their hands over his head, wondering what was happening. Sandro came to know Valentino through the epic stories passed down to him day after day. He began to nurture that dream at the San Lorenzo oratory in Milano’s Porta Ticinese, playing full-pitch matches against Adriano Celentano. He was not the only Inter figure to shape his development: Giuseppe Meazza and Benito Lorenzi. Meazza helped develop him technically, teaching him every secret. Lorenzi turned up at Sandro’s home in Cassano d’Adda with boots and a ball. At eight, Mazzola and his brother were effectively Inter mascots: on the pitch, in the dressing room and in the stadium, immersed in the Nerazzurri world.

He had to grow up quickly, out of necessity. Sandrino did so in a hurry, helped along by circumstances. Born in 1942, he was thrown into the first team for the infamous replay of Juventus vs. Inter on 10 June 1961 in Turin. From a school exam to the journey to the Piedmontese capital, where Moratti and Herrera fielded the Primavera side. It finished 9-1, with Inter’s goal scored by a slim, technically gifted youngster: Sandro Mazzola. He was 18.

A second striker, as we would call him today. An eight and a ten, like the shirts he wore at Inter. A midfielder or a centre-forward? Herrera managed to mould the right role for him, paving the way for an unstoppable rise in the spectacular side that was the Grande Inter. His breakthrough? It came very early, and was confirmed by the greats of world football. Vienna’s Prater, European Cup final, 1964. As the players walked out, Suarez pushed Mazzola onto the pitch: Sandro had been left outside the dressing room admiring his idols, Di Stefano, Puskas and the other Real Madrid stars. Then, on the pitch, two goals. A brace in the European Cup final, Inter’s first European triumph, an unprecedented victory bearing Mazzola’s signature and earning Puskas’s praise: “You are worthy of your father Valentino,” the great Hungarian told him as he gave him his shirt.

Stories we know by heart, stories we have heard again and again without ever getting tired of them, discovering a new detail each time, told in his warm voice, always filled with emotion when he looked back. A sense of devotion and total gratitude towards Inter, which was “like a mother to me”, repaid with an endless stream of brilliant touches, goals and moments of magic. Four Scudetti, two European Cups, two Intercontinental Cups, the Serie A top-scorer title (in 1965 with 17 goals) and the European Cup top-scorer title (seven goals in 1964). Runner-up in the 1971 Ballon d’Or behind Johan Cruyff.

The Grande Inter of Angelo Moratti, Helenio Herrera, Sarti, Burgnich and Facchetti. Mazzola was there, between midfield and attack, shaping trajectories and scoring goals. European nights, afternoons at the Meazza. Crucial, unforgettable goals. His mark against Independiente in the Intercontinental Cup, the comeback against Liverpool celebrated to the sound of “When the Saints Go Marching In” blasting from the San Siro speakers. And more: the goal in the derby after 13 seconds, the goal in Inter vs. Lazio in 1966 that secured the Prima Stella. All the way to 1977. In between came the European Championship with Italy, the World Cups and the famous relay with Rivera.

17 seasons, 565 official appearances, 158 goals. A bond with Inter that never ended, continuing throughout his career as a director and then sporting director. Even behind a desk, his eye for talent was unique. Platini and Falcao, who ultimately got away. Zenga, brought back to Milano from Sambenedettese. And above all, Ronaldo. Il Fenomeno, who arrived after Moratti and Mazzola, indeed, had pushed for his signing. When R9 was presented at the Nerazzurri headquarters, Luis Suarez and Sandro Mazzola stood beside him.

His visits to Inter’s headquarters continued in recent years. A member of the Club’s Hall of Fame, he always spoke of his unique and unbreakable bond with the Nerazzurri colours. He also shared that bond with Lautaro and his teammates during a recent visit to Appiano Gentile, where he felt at home, recalling the training camps under Herrera through wonderful and hilarious anecdotes.

He also felt the affection of the Nerazzurri fans in person in May 2024, on the day the Seconda Stella was celebrated: he was not he pitch, alongside Bedin and Cappellini, honoured for that Prima Stella won 58 years earlier.

The star with the moustache shone on the pitch, and still does today. As he often said, he had one final wish: “To be remembered as a good man, someone who keeps fighting even when winning is impossible, like in that 9-1.”

We will, Sandro.