MILAN – Riccardo Ferri was Alessandro Villa's guest on the second episode of Memorabilia broadcast on Inter Channel.
Nerazzurri born and bred, Riccardo represented the club for 13 seasons. He lifted the record-breaking Serie A title in 1988/89, as well as an Italian Super Cup and two UEFA Cups.
Born in Crema in Lombardy on 20 August 1963, he started out on the footballing ladder at Inter's football academy alongside Beppe Bergomi: "I saw Beppe more often than my parents, we had such a long journey together. I remember my first trials at Rogoredo: I thought he was the bus driver with that moustache of his."
After years without much to show for, he won the record-breaking Scudetto title in 1988/89: "During that year when we clocked up 58 points, we had 11 starters and a few youngsters to pad us out. They contributed massively to that success. Compared to AC Milan who had top-class players, we had kids from the youth team or guys just breaking into the side who still had to prove themselves.
"That was a huge achievement because locking horns with the Milan and Juventus teams of that era and managing to run away with the league was a satisfaction that was built up on the pitch with every minute.
"In terms of quality, every side from that era had a few star players and proven internationals. Winning that championship was hugely satisfying, we carried on performing well until 1991 when we won the club's first-ever UEFA Cup."
In 1990, Ferri watched two of his fellow Nerazzurri players line up in the World Cup final in Italy, Lothar Matthaus and Andreas Brehme: "Lothar was the kind of player who was able to change the rhythm and make-up of a game. He was a leader, both in training and in matches.
"Many people underestimated Brehme at the beginning, but we had seen in training that he was not your average player. Completely two-footed, he also had great vision and superb technical ability."
The 1993/94 season was one of the most bizarre in Nerazzurri history. Inter finished 13th in the league table, one point above relegated Piacenza, but added a second UEFA Cup triumph to the trophy cabinet after victory over two legs against Salzburg.
"That team didn't realise its own capability. We began the season focused on Europe but then found ourselves in a relegation dogfight – changing our approach was difficult.
"At the end, we registered a fantastic result under Giampiero Marini who built a cohesive unit to achieve our goal. Dennis Bergkamp was important in that side, as were Wilm Jonk and Walter Zenga. Walter and I said goodbye to San Siro after that victory. I'm an emotional guy and shed tears on that occasion."
Ferri couldn't avoid a question about that famous line of a song by Luciano Ligabue on his propensity for scoring own-goals. "He could have asked me politely beforehand, especially since he's an Inter fan! However, I'm not the sole possessor of that record: Comunardo Niccolai and Franco Baresi also have eight. Anyway, I've experienced both success and failure and I always took responsibility for it. With today's criteria, maybe they wouldn't have been as many!"
Having come up against countless legends of the game in his career, Riccardo was also asked to reveal whom he found the hardest to mark.
"I played against so many superstars like Diego Maradona, Marco Van Basten and Careca, who a lot of people forget. He was unmarkable: he could play with his first touch, was tactically astute and had team-mates like Maradona and Bruno Giordano around him. You'd sometimes go half an hour without getting ahead of him even once.
"Obviously you have to mention Maradona who played for 20 minutes against us once with his laces untied – almost as an insult to us – or Van Basten who played in such a way that it was extremely difficult to take the ball off him. Marking Van Basten when you have possession is one thing but doing it when his team have 80% of the ball is a different matter."
In total, Ferri made 418 appearances and scored eight goals, often from set pieces: "Sometimes I'd take a pigeon out up there as well. I often scored in the youth teams, but then I developed a problem with the patellar tendon on my supporting leg. However, I still scored for Inter and Italy which gives me a lot of pleasure.
"I especially like to remember a goal for the Azzurri in Taranto against Hungary – thinking back it still gives me goosebumps. I thought about one of our coaches Giovanni Turconi who had passed away just before. I thought about dedicating a goal to him. Giuseppe Giannini took a corner and the ball dropped to me from a rebound. I struck it first time and the ball hit the back of the net. As I was running, I thought about him. I called his parents straight away after the match, sometimes things happen that make you capable of things you didn't think were possible."
After all those years at Inter, Riccardo added a short epilogue to his career at Sampdoria. "I would never have gone to Milan or Juventus, not for all the money in the world. We lived for those colours.
"I started off in the youth academy competing against Juventus, Torino and Napoli in tournaments and I was still playing them towards the end of my career for the same club. I had a short adventure with Sampdoria which was wonderful. I loved that city and those fans and I respected the badge, but I never kissed it. I only ever kissed the Inter badge. Full stop."
