Victor - The Moviola

1967 was a remarkable year for the world, with new cultural, political, and musical currents emerging everywhere. For Italian football, however, October was a particularly dark month. On 15 October, Gigi Meroni, Italian football’s answer to George Best and the most talented, gifted, and irreverent player around, was tragically killed by a car while walking home after a match against Sampdoria. In a cruel twist of fate, the driver would go on to become president of Torino. A week later, the Turin derby took place. Torino won 4-0, with the fourth goal scored by young Alberto Carelli, who wore Meroni’s number seven shirt. That Sunday, quite rightly, everyone was focused on Torino vs. Juventus, but Inter vs. AC Milan was also on the fixture list.

Milano derbies in the 1960s meant Mazzola against Rivera, Corso against Rosato, Helenio Herrera against Nereo Rocco. Between them, the two sides would reach the European Cup final five times in ten editions. The city had Europe at its feet. The crowd knew what to expect, even on 22 October 1967, when Inter and AC Milan met early in the season. And yet there was plenty of room for the unexpected.

The first half was a sleepy affair. Then, after the break, came the least likely goalscorer: the only Peruvian ever to play for Inter, according to the current record. He was also a former AC Milan player, having won the European Cup with them in 1962-63. And he had already appeared twice in Inter’s match reports, on both occasions for scoring against them in the colours of Roma and Venezia. Victor Benitez lived up to the stereotype of the quick-footed Peruvian, and his run into the box was rewarded with a spectacular pass from Sandro Mazzola. Benitez’s right-footed finish was ruthless. Inter led 1-0, and that looked set to be the only goal of the game. Or perhaps not.

Around 20 minutes later, a cross dropped into the Inter penalty area. Rivera adjusted his body for a volley on the bounce, the ball struck the crossbar and was then cleared by the Inter defence. The assistant referee, however, signalled a goal, and the referee agreed. It was 1-1. In the aftermath, differing accounts came from the dressing rooms.

Nereo Rocco said: “I wouldn’t go to court and swear that it was definitely a goal.”

Sarti, Inter’s goalkeeper, said: “I didn’t see it, but a cloud of white chalk dust went up, so it must have hit the goal line. It can’t have been a goal.”

The photographers behind the goal insisted the ball had not gone in. The cameraman disagreed: “I swear to you, it was a goal.” The debate seemed destined to rumble on for years. Then, on Sunday evening, during La Domenica Sportiva, veteran journalist Carlo Sassi, assisted by cameraman Heron Vitaletti, uncovered the mistake. Slowing down the footage revealed that the ball had not crossed the line. Some remained convinced that it was a goal, but one indisputable fact would be passed down through generations. It was not the refereeing error itself; there will always be mistakes, probably an inherent part of the game. Rather, it was the birth of an institution that could be deadly serious one moment and almost farcical the next, one that would shape the way an entire football-loving nation watched the game for decades. That evening, the moviola was born.