"The desire to remember mingles with a sense of modesty: how difficult it is to find the right words to bid farewell to someone who wrote history in an indelible and unprecedented way." This is how Inter's lengthy tribute to Sandro Mazzola opens, following the death of one of the legends of the Grande Inter at the age of 83.

A tribute that retraces every step of the career of the Nerazzurri icon, because Sandro Mazzola "was Inter's history: he joined as a boy and never left."

From the "heavy burden on his shoulders" of the eternal memory of his father Valentino, lost in the Superga air disaster. Sandro was barely six years old at the time. But football was in the Mazzola family's destiny.

From childhood, at the age of eight, Sandro wore Inter's shirt. Years spent learning the game, then the epic Juventus-Inter match of June 10, 1961, when Moratti and Herrera, in protest, fielded the youth team — Sandro Mazzola among them — and he scored his first goal at just 18 years old, from the penalty spot. A clear sign of what was to come.

Under the guidance of Helenio Herrera, Sandro Mazzola wrote indelible pages in sporting history. The standard-bearer and idol of an untouchable team, built on great champions and incredible successes. Sarti, Burgnich, Facchetti, Bedin, Guarneri, Picchi, Jair, Mazzola, Peirò, Suárez, Corso — a roll call that fills the memories and hearts of Nerazzurri supporters. Mazzola was the emblem of the Grande Inter. The first great triumph in the European Cup against Real Madrid in '64 bears his signature.

He won "four Serie A titles, two European Cups, two Intercontinental Cups, the top scorer title in Serie A (in 1965 with 17 goals) and in the European Cup (7 goals in 1964). Runner-up in the 1971 Ballon d'Or behind Johan Cruyff," Inter recalls. After hanging up his boots, he embarked on a career as an executive and sporting director, with his most celebrated coup being Ronaldo il Fenomeno — persuaded to join the Beneamata by Mazzola and Moratti himself — who celebrated his 50th birthday just yesterday.

A life spent in Inter's shirt, for the good of Inter, out of love for those colours he helped make great. "He had one last wish," Inter recalls, "'to be remembered as a good man, who gives everything even when it's impossible to win, like in that 9-1.'"

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