MILAN – On 9 February 1930, Mrs Ersilia was crying in the stands of the Stadio Nazionale del PNF. She was crying because she felt helpless as a mother. Her son? Giuseppe Meazza.
A large part of the crowd surrounding her were Napoli fans furious with Italy coach Vittorio Pozzo for not naming Attila Sallustro in his line-up against Switzerland. The Paraguay-born star was an idol for the Neapolitans, who took the decision as an affront, so they marched en masse to Rome in order to vent their anger.
Nevertheless, Pozzo was a pragmatic man blessed with the gift of foresight. He had opted to hand a debut Italy cap to Meazza instead, a promising youngster who had been enchanting Nerazzurri fans in Milan for a couple of years.
Against Switzerland that afternoon, Meazza had made a poor start and the opponents had raced into a 2-0 lead, prompting the ire of the fans and the tears of his mother, surrounded by the baying mob. Ultimately, Pozzo's decision proved very much to be the right one.
The Azzurri ended up winning 4-2; goals from Mario Magnozzi and Raimundo Orsi drew the game level before Meazza made it a debut to remember with a late brace that transformed a hard-earned draw into a clear victory. The boos of the crowd had changed to cheers and Mrs Ersilia's tears were now of joy. That Sunday afternoon was when Italy unearthed one of the purest and most innovative talents in the country's history.
In Milan, however, the Nerazzurri had been aware of “Peppin” – as he was nicknamed by his friends growing up in Porto Vittoria – for a number of years. The man who first drew the club's attention to this outrageous talent was Fulvio Bernardini, then a player in Arpad Weisz's Inter side. Bernardini had the habit of sticking around after training to watch the youth teams play. With the fine footballing mind that he possessed, he immediately understood he had discovered a phenomenon and convinced the Hungarian coach to try the kid out in the first XI.
Thus, at just 16 years old, Meazza was named in the line-up against Unione Milanese in a Coppa Volta tie on 11 September 1927. Lining up in a derby fixture next to the man who discovered him, Giuseppe joined Fulvio on the scoresheet in a 6-1 trouncing.
Bernardini in 1927 and Pozzo three years later merely nudged history in the right direction. The rest was up to Mrs Ersilia's son. In 14 seasons playing for the Nerazzurri, Meazza won three league titles and one Coppa Italia, adding three top goalscorer awards as well. In total, he scored 284 goals in 408 appearances for Inter, while starring in Italy's two World Cup triumphs in the 1930s – both with Vittorio Pozzo in charge. Yet the statistics, although undoubtedly impressive, do not tell the whole story.
Meazza's importance for his club was illustrated never better than in the biggest games. He still holds the Nerazzurri record for derby goals against AC Milan, hitting the back of the net 12 times against our Rossoneri neighbours. Between 28 April 1928 and 2 February 1936, he helped secure eight wins and two draws. When Meazza scored, AC Milan didn't win.
One of Meazza's last gifts to Inter before he went into retirement was discovering the 15-year-old Sandro Mazzola. In 1957, Sandro and his team-mates were about to go out and play a derby game against Milan. As the head of the Nerazzurri youth academy, Meazza came over to speak to them before the game. Many years later, Mazzola revealed the content of that pre-match pep talk.
"He called us over before the game to go through some tactics, almost as if we were the first team. Smoking one of his Durban cigarettes, he said, 'You know, guys, I've got a stain on my career.' We thought of him as a god and replied in unison, 'What?!' 'I played for Milan for six months. Now you have to go out and win this game'. That's exactly what happened."
On 2 March 1980, shortly before his death, the most beautiful stadium in the world, San Siro, was rechristened the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. Eugenio Bersellini's Inter celebrated that decision and the legend's memory by winning the 12th Scudetto in the club's history that same season.
Davide Zanelli
