Sandro, forever

Back then, the only matches shown on TV were European Cup games. Real Madrid often came out on top, just as they do today: a legendary team featuring Puskas, Gento and Di Stefano. For a young boy, it was only natural to be mesmerised watching them. A little less so when you were about to step onto the pitch yourself to play in a European Cup final. It took Luisito Suarez, before kick-off in Inter vs. Real Madrid, to snap 21-year-old Sandro Mazzola out of it. “We’re going out there to play the game. What are you going to do, stay here and watch?” The answer came on the pitch. A 3-1 win and two goals against Real Madrid. Did you know no one else has ever scored twice against Los Blancos in a Champions League final?

Sandro Mazzola was a son of Inter, and not just metaphorically. The greatest tragedy in the history of Italian football, the Superga air disaster, took the life of Valentino Mazzola, one of the greatest players of all time. Sandro was just six years old. In footballing terms, he was taken under the wing of Veleno Lorenzi, an Inter legend who would take him to the stadium on Sundays and to training during the week, where he honed his skills alongside a certain Giuseppe Meazza.

“Inter gave me something priceless: an opportunity,” Mazzola once said in an interview. And Sandro Mazzola repaid Inter by wearing only the Nerazzurri shirt, and no other, for 565 appearances. Every one of them unforgettable, including his first. It came in a 9-1 defeat to Juventus. He was playing for the Primavera side as a form of protest, and his was the only Inter goal on the scoresheet. From the penalty spot. Accustomed to taking responsibility, including carrying a surname that seemed impossible to live up to, yet which he carried with grace, he was a magnificent footballer. Like all the greats, he had no single position, because he could play anywhere. Centre-forward, playmaker, midfielder. The most famous roll call in Italian football was one everyone pretended to know by heart: Sarti, Burgnich, Facchetti... then many would stumble over Tagnin or Bedin, losing their way before everyone came back together at the end: MAZZOLA!

Ferenc Puskas, one of Sandro's childhood idols, went looking for the young forward whom none of his teammates had been able to contain after that triumphant night in Vienna. He approached him with his own shirt in his hands, as a gift, and words that would stay with Sandro forever. “You know, I saw your father play. You are worthy of him.”

Sandro passed away on the very day San Siro celebrated its 100th anniversary. He was one of the few players to lift the European Cup in his own stadium.

This afternoon, Milano will say its final farewell to him.

He carried a legendary surname and, through class, determination and perseverance, earned a first name that is now a legend in its own right.

Forever, Sandro Mazzola.