Alessandro "Sandro" Mazzola is an Italian former professional footballer, who played as a forward or attacking midfielder for Internazionale and the Italy national team.
16 Facts About Sandro Mazzola
2.
Sandro Mazzola 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.
3.
Sandro Mazzola is the son of Italian footballer Valentino Mazzola, player of the Grande Torino who died in the Superga air disaster.
4.
Sandro Mazzola's younger brother, Ferruccio Mazzola, was a footballer, who died in 2013.
5.
Sandro Mazzola was born in Turin a few weeks after his father, Valentino Mazzola, joined Torino from Venezia.
6.
Sandro Mazzola's younger brother, Ferruccio, who was named after the club president of Torino, was born two years later.
7.
Unlike his younger brother, Sandro Mazzola spent his entire career with Inter, scoring 116 Serie A goals for the club in 417 league appearances.
8.
Sandro 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.
9.
In 1964, Sandro 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.
10.
Sandro Mazzola retired from professional football in the summer of 1977, having served as Inter's captain from 1970 until his retirement.
11.
Sandro Mazzola played 70 times for Italy between 1963 and 1974, scoring 22 goals.
12.
Sandro Mazzola, who was faster, stronger, fitter, more goal-prone, and who had the superior tactical intelligence and work-rate of the two, would start in the first half, while Rivera would come in at half time, once the opposing players began to tire.
13.
Sandro Mazzola holds the unique record of being the commentator of the finals of the 1982 World Cup alongside Luigi Colombo for Telemontecarlo and the 2006 World Cup final alongside Marco Civoli for RAI, both won by Italy.
14.
Sandro Mazzola is widely considered to be one of the greatest Italian football players of all time and one of the best players of his generation.
15.
However, Sandro Mazzola was most highly regarded during his prime for his outstanding pace, acceleration, and stamina, as well as his dribbling ability, agility, technical skills, and balance, in particular when running at full speed while in possession of the ball; his pace, combined with his excellent ball control and technical ability enabled him to beat defenders frequently during matches, both in one-on-one situations or when undertaking individual runs.
16.
On 3 July 1968, Sandro Mazzola founded the Italian Footballers' Association, in Milan, along with several fellow footballers, such as Giacomo Bulgarelli, Gianni Rivera, Ernesto Castano, Giancarlo De Sisti, and Giacomo Losi, as well as the recently retired Sergio Campana, a lawyer, who was appointed president of the association.