Sandro Mazzola

Alessandro Mazzola, known as Sandro, was born in Turin, on November 8, 1942. He is the son of the great Valentino, one of the best players in Italian history. His father died in the Superga tragedy in 1949 when the plane carrying the Grande Torino team crashed on the way back from a friendly in Lisbon.

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Sandro started playing football for Inter at 15 and would remain faithful to the Nerazzurri for his whole career. He joined the youth set up in 1957 and made his first team debut in 1960.

He stayed for seventeen seasons, playing 570 games (417 in A) and scoring 163 goals (116 in A). He won 4 league titles (1963, 1965, 1966 and 1971), 2 European Cups (1964 and 1965) and 2 Intercontinental Cups (1964, 1965).

His managers were Helenio Herrera (1960-68), Alfredo Foni (1968-69), Heriberto Herrera (1969-70), Giovanni Invernizzi (from game 6, 1970 to game 23, 1973), Enrico Masiero (from game 24, 1973), Helenio Herrera again (game 1-16, 1973-74), Enrico Masiero (from game 17, 1973-74), Luis Suarez (1974-75) and Giuseppe Chiappella (1975-77).

He was top Serie A scorer in 1964-65. Mazzola scored two goals in the 1964 European Cup final, won 3-1 against Real Madrid and was top scorer of the competition with 7 goals. He also scored three goals in the two victorious Intercontinental games (1 against Independiente in '64 and 2 against the same opposition in '65).

He played 70 times for Italy and scored 22 goals. He took part in three World Cups and a European Championship. In Mexico 1970 he won a World Cup silver medal while he won gold in the 1968 European Championship. In Mexico 1970 he was often alternated with another exceptional talent of the time Gianni Rivera, this caused some controversy in Italy between those who preferred one and those who thought both should play together.

Mazzola retired in 1977. He then worked for Inter as an advisor from 1977 to 1984. He then had a spell at Genoa before returning to Inter as sporting director when Massimo Moratti bought the club. Between 2000 and 2003 he was a director at Torino (his father's old club). He then worked in television as a pundit in football programmes and as a technical commentator for Italy matches (as for Italy's World Cup triumph in 2006).

Mazzola was a fantastic player. He started off as a midfielder but under Helenio Herrera became more of a forward. Later in his career however went back to being more of a midfielder. He was an incredibly versatile player, he could do everything well. He was strong physically, scored goals, set up fellow forwards, was good in the air, could defend and had a strong character giving him leadership qualities. Some of his more famous skills were his "serpentine" (darting, weaving runs).

He is an absolute legend at Inter, up there with the likes of Giacinto Facchetti and Javier Zanetti. As mentioned he won the Scudetto four times, the European Cup twice and the Intercontinental Cup twice. At individual level he came 2nd in the "ballon d'or" of 1971 (behind Johan Cruijff) and was among the candidates nine times.

In a Lazio connection his brother Ferruccio played for the Biancocelesti between 1968 and 1971 and then again between 1972 and 1974, playing 86 league games but mainly in his first spell. He died in 2013 while Sandro is still with us.

Source

Wikipedia