MILAN – "I've found you a centre forward."
In 1956, Giulio Capelli was supposed to be in South America to watch Ernesto Cucchiaroni on AC Milan's behalf. However, during a Boca Juniors game, his eye was drawn to another player, a young striker still in his teens. Capelli had picked up the ability to spot new talent from the legendary Vittorio Pozzo, thanks to whom he had made his debut for the national team and won Olympic gold at Berlin 1936. The former winger was unequivocal: this kid was perfect for Angelo Moratti's Inter.
He was called Antonio Valentin Angelillo and he came from the Parque Patricios' district of Buenos Aires. He adored tango and worshipped French Argentine singer-songwriter Carlos Gardel, the genre's most prominent figure. He also played the bandoneon until he was 17, a concertina that no Argentine tango orchestra will go without. Nevertheless, once he had begun playing football for Arsenal de Llavallol, the only music he would play was on the pitch.
Angelillo's first senior club was Racing Club, where he scored a brace on his debut in 1955. A move to Boca Juniors swiftly followed, as did a call-up to the Argentina squad for the 1957 Copa America. La Albiceleste dominated the tournament in Peru, winning five matches out of six and beating Didi's Brazil 3-0. Angelillo contributed eight goals in a fearsome attacking trident of himself, Humberto Maschio (the competition's top scorer with ten) and Omar Sivori.
After a training session on a particularly muddy pitch, a masseur for the national team bestowed the nickname on the trio that would follow them to Italy: the Angels with Dirty Faces.
Sivori headed to Juventus, Maschio to Bologna and Angelillo – his parents in tow – went to Inter. He was only 20 and found it tough-going during his first season, struggling with the language despite scoring 16 goals. To help settle in, he moved into digs with fellow Nerazzurri players Livio Fongaro and Enea Masiero and got ready for the best season of his life in 1958/59.
"Gonzalo Higuain? To beat my record he'd have to play in an 18-team league," Angelillo recently said of another Argentine goalscoring machine. "I've got the record for 18 teams."
Angelillo was untouchable that campaign, scoring a scarcely comprehensible 33 goals in 33 games. In an early-season fixture against Spal, he scored five goals in 69 minutes. He was utterly dominant but not only in the penalty box: Antonio was a complete player. His performances prompted Gianni Brera to wonder how it was possible to keep up that tempo without dropping dead.
"He'd played in defence, in midfield and in attack," wrote the celebrated sports journalist. "He scored goals and constructed moves. Any other phenomenon would have ended up dead at that rate."
Embodying pure class and goalscoring instinct, the Angel with the Dirty Face quickly became the darling of the Nerazzurri crowd. Unfortunately, the marriage between Angelillo and Inter was quickly and abruptly broken up. The bond persisted, however, because true love never dies.
Antonio spent the rest of his playing days travelling around the country turning out for various sides in the top two flights. After he had hung his boots up, he turned to coaching, devoting much of his time to youth teams. His career took him to Brescia, where between 1975 and 1977 he put faith in a pair of up-and-coming talents, Alessandro Altobelli and Evaristo Beccalossi, who would both shortly move on to Inter.
After Brescia he went to Reggio Calabria and then to Pescara, where in 1978/79, after relegation from the top flight, Angelillo masterminded an incredible and rollercoaster promotion back to Serie A, only achieved following victory in a play-off game against Monza that has gone down in the club's history.
They say the best love stories don't have an ending. After drawing his coaching career to a close, Antonio Angelillo found himself back where it all began for him in Italy and became Inter's scout for South America. Showing the same nose for talent as Giulio Capelli had with him, Angelillo flagged up another young Argentinian to the Nerazzurri. He was playing for Banfield and had been nicknamed "the Tractor": it was none other than Javier Zanetti and a new club legend was about to be born.
Davide Zanelli
