MILAN – With the World Cup now up and running, we've decided to take a look at some of the records set by Nerazzurri players in the world's most prestigious tournament. Because it may be a global celebration of football but at times it's also been a celebration for Inter.
We start with Mr World Cup himself, Lothar Matthäus. Besides being the only outfield player to have appeared in five editions of the tournament (a record he shares with Mexico goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal), he has also played more World Cup games than anyone else: 25 in total. Two at España '82, seven at Mexico '86, seven at Italia '90, five at USA '94 and four at France '98.
What about goals? Ronaldo is the all-time highest goalscorer at World Cups, with 15 to his name.
The fastest-ever World Cup goal? Hakan Şükür. He took all of 11 seconds to hit the net against South Korea in the third-place final in 2002.
Then we have Gabriel Omar Batistuta and Andreas Brehme showing Nerazzurri nerves of steel from 12 yards. The Argentine converted from the spot in regular time on four occasions over three tournaments, while the German left-back slotted home the match-winning penalty in the 1990 final against Maradona's Argentina.
Another World Cup record held by a Nerazzurri player is the longest spell for a goalkeeper without conceding. No prizes for guessing who that is: Walter Zenga. He went 517 minutes without having to pick the ball out of his net before Claudio Canniggia forced him to do so in the 67th minute of Italy v Argentina.
Finally, since 1930 Inter have seen their players feature at more World Cups than any other club (114) and also score the most goals (68).
