Sandro Mazzola

Alessandro "Sandro" Mazzola (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsandro matˈtsɔːla]; born 8 November 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer, who played as a forward or attacking midfielder for Internazionale and the Italy national team. He has worked also as a football analyst and commentator on the Italian national television station RAI.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Italian football players of all time, and as one of the best players of his generation, due to his speed, work-rate, creativity, technical skills and eye for goal; he placed second in the 1971 Ballon d'Or. Having spent his entire 17 season career with Inter, he holds the honour of being a one-club man. With the club, he won four Serie A titles (1963, 1965, 1966 and 1971), two European Cups (1964 and 1965) and two Intercontinental Cups (1964 and 1965), also winning the Serie A top scorer award during the 1964–65 season, in which he also reached the Coppa Italia final, narrowly missing out on a treble with the club. With the Italy national side, Mazzola won the UEFA European Championship in 1968, being named to the Team of the Tournament, and reached the final of the 1970 FIFA World Cup; he also took part in the 1966 and 1974 FIFA World Cups with Italy.

He is the son of Italian footballer Valentino Mazzola, player of the Grande Torino who died in the Superga air disaster. Sandro Mazzola's younger brother, Ferruccio Mazzola, was also a footballer, who died in 2013.

Sandro Mazzola was born in Turin a few weeks after his father, Valentino Mazzola, joined Torino from Venezia. His younger brother, Ferruccio, who was named after the club president of Torino, was born two years later. Their parents divorced in 1946 but their father gained custody of Sandro, who was six years old when his father died in the Superga air disaster.

Although their father Valentino had played for Torino F.C., Sandro Mazzola and his brother Ferruccio signed for Internazionale. Unlike his younger brother, Sandro Mazzola spent his entire career with Inter, scoring 116 Serie A goals for the club in 417 league appearances. He made his Serie A debut under manager Helenio Herrera during the 1960–61 season, along with many other youngsters, against rivals Juventus on 10 June 1961, scoring his team's only goal from a penalty in a 9–1 loss; this was his only appearance of the season. Herrera had joined Inter a year earlier, from Spanish side Barcelona, along with his midfield general Luis Suárez, who would serve as Inter's main playmaker during the 1960s.

Herrera's Inter side during that period also featured Tarcisio Burgnich and Giacinto Facchetti as his fullbacks, Brazilian Jair as his winger, Mario Corso as the left midfielder, Armando Picchi as his sweeper, and Mazzola, who eventually played in the inside-right offensive position under Herrera. Together, they would transform the club into the best team in Italy, Europe, and the world during the 60s, which came to be known as Grande Inter. They were known for their infamous defensive "catenaccio" tactics and ability to score from swift and sudden counterattacks. Mazzola won four Serie A titles with Inter, including two consecutive titles in 1965 and 1966, finishing as the league's top scorer in the former season, with 17 goals, and narrowly missing out on a treble in the same year.

In 1964, Mazzola scored twice to help Inter defeat Real Madrid in the 1964 European Cup Final to help the club emulate cross-city rival Milan's feat of the previous season; he finished the tournament as the joint top scorer with seven goals. Inter defended their European title again the following season by beating Benfica in the Final. Inter were eliminated in the semi-finals of the European Cup during the 1965–66 season by eventual champions Real Madrid, while in the 1966–67 season, Inter reached their third European Cup Final, but lost 2–1 to Celtic despite Mazzola scoring the opening goal of the match from the penalty spot in the seventh minute. Mazzola also won two consecutive Intercontinental Cups with Inter in 1964 and 1965, and reached the 1964–65 Coppa Italia final, as well as managing a third-place finish in the Coppa Italia during the 1967–68 season; he reached yet another European Cup final with Inter in 1972, only to lose 2–0 to Ajax.

In 1971, following his final Serie A title and his performances in Europe, he placed second in the Ballon d'Or, behind Johan Cruyff. This was the closest he ever came to winning the award, and the first time he was shortlisted as a finalist.