Former Italian star Matzola dies

Rome - AFP - Former attacking midfielder Sandro Mazzola, who wore only the shirts of Inter Milan and the Italy national football team during his career, has died at the age of 83.

The club said in a statement: “Sandro Mazzola was one of the greatest football players in history. And not just in the history of the Nerazzurri.”

With Inter, which dominated Italian football in the 1960s, he won the league title four times in 1963, 1965, 1966, and 1971, and was crowned European Champion Clubs’ Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) winner twice in 1964 and 1965.

Mazzola, who scored 158 goals in 565 matches for Inter, achieved one of his most notable feats in the first European final his team won against Spain’s Real Madrid 3-1, when he scored two goals.

For this, he received special praise from the opposing team’s legend, Hungarian Ferenc Puskás. Puskás told him: “I played against your father, and you are worthy of him. This is my shirt.”

That father was Valentino Mazzola, the great star of Torino, who died in the Superga disaster, a plane crash in 1949 that claimed the lives of 18 players from the club, including eight Italian internationals.

With the Italy national team (70 caps and 22 goals), this elegant mustachioed dribbler, who was also renowned for his prolific creativity on the pitch, was no less brilliant. He won the European Championship in 1968 on home soil and reached the 1970 World Cup final in Mexico, before losing to the formidable Brazil led by “King” Pelé.

The following year, he finished second to Dutchman Johan Cruyff in the Ballon d’Or race. After 17 seasons in professional football, Mazzola retired in 1977 and joined Inter’s administrative staff, before becoming sporting director of Torino.