MILAN – The year 1930 brought with it a new challenge for the Nerazzurri. Known then as Società Sportiva Ambrosiana, Inter’s triumphant Serie A 1929/30 campaign meant they qualified to represent Italy in the Mitropa Cup the following year. It would be the first instalment in what would prove to be a love affair with European football for the club.
The Mitropa Cup had been launched in 1927 by the Austrian coach and football director Hugo Meisl, who dreamed of a competition in which the best teams in Europe did battle against one another.
Having just missed out on qualification in the 1928/29 season, Inter sealed their spot in the tournament the very next season after drawing on their talent and experience to brush Genoa and Juventus aside and win the Scudetto.
The Nerazzurri’s best player was one Giuseppe Meazza. At just 20 years of age, he had stormed the Serie A goalscoring charts with a whopping 31 goals in that 1929/30 campaign. Luigi Allemandi, with his vision and impressive technical ability was the man at the heart of the Inter defence, while Giuseppe Viani – Gipo, as he was known – was the key midfielder. Viani would go on to work with Nereo Rocco at AC Milan and was once of the first coaches to introduce the sweeper to Italian football.
Other notable figures in the Inter team were the great wide forward Leopoldo Conti and Pietro Serantoni, a dynamic, complete midfielder with a nose for goal. Serantoni was signed from AC Milan on the wishes of the Nerazzurri’s coach at the time, Arpad Weisz. At just 34 years of age, Weisz had spent time playing in his native Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Italy, having joined Alessandria in 1924. By 1930 he was one of the most well-respected coaches in Europe, having become the youngest manager to win Serie A – a record he still holds to this day.
The quality of Inter’s squad was beyond question, but standing between them and Mitropa Cup glory was the elite of European football. First up were the holders, Hungarian outfit Ujpest. It took the Nerazzurri four matches to dispatch Ujpest, with the two-legged tie forcing a play-off only for that too to end in a draw – Inter won the second play-off 5-3.
Next came Sparta Prague – Thursday’s opponents in the Europa League. Coached by Scottish manager John Dick, Sparta had quite a team. The star men were attacking midfielder Josef Kostalek and Raymond Braine, the prolific Belgian forward signed from Beerschot.
And so it was that the two teams walked out onto the pitch at the Arena Civia in Milan for the first leg on 28 September 1930. Refereeing the game was John Langenus, who had overseen the first-ever World Cup final just two months previously. The Belgian official would have plenty of work to do.
It was a tough match for the Nerazzurri, who found themselves 2-0 down inside 15 minutes. Both goals were scored by Kostalek, the first coming in the first 20 seconds’ play. Giuseppe Meazza was nearly kicked off the pitch, with Karel Pesek-Kada leading the heavy-handed treatment, while goalkeeper Valentino Degani was injured while coming out to thwart a Braine chance. With no substitutes allowed, forward Umberto Visentin went in goal, effectively leaving the Nerazzurri a man light.
Yet Inter refused to roll over, battling back to equalise through a Serantoni free kick just before half time. And there was more to come from the midfielder as he hauled the Nerazzurri level with another great strike shortly after the restart. Sensing blood, Inter poured forward in the final stages, but were ultimately unable to get the win.
Sparta would prove too much for Inter in the return leg, however, as the Nerazzurri succumbed to a 6-1 defeat. In goal that day was 20-year-old debutant Pietro Miglio, who had been enlisted via an ad in the paper after the club’s back-up goalkeeper joined Degani in the treatment room. Despite the scoreline, Miglio gave a good account of himself.
Though it was a disappointing result, there would be some consolation in Meazza winning the competition’s top-scorer gong, with seven goals in total. The legendary striker would claim the award twice more in his Inter career.
And as for the Nerazzurri, it was a humble start to a journey that would see them eventually reach the very pinnacle of European football.
Roberto Brambilla
