MILAN – Despite him being born in 1960, the date of birth on Walter Zenga’s first player registration form reads 28 April 1959. This was no typo, no slip of the wrist – at the time, you had to be ten years old to play in the Pulcini team, but Zenga wasn’t willing to wait another year to don the gloves for Macallesi. Zenga knew he was ready to follow in the footsteps of his father Alfonso, who played for Pro Lissone during his own career and inspired Walter to become a keeper.
Zenga spent just one year at Macallesi, but it was during that time that he was coached by Giannino Redaelli, who taught the young keeper the value of respect and would go on to be an important figure in his life. He was still playing with the Pulcini side when, in 1971, Italy Galbiati – the director of the Inter youth academy – signed him for the Nerazzurri.
For Zenga, a born Inter fan, it was a dream come true – yet the best was yet to come. Over the course of the next seven years, Zenga worked his way up the Nerazzurri youth ranks, cheering on the first team as a ball boy or with the rest of the fans in San Siro’s Curva Nord. Vital loan spells followed, at Salernitana, Savona and Sambenedettese, but Zenga would eventually return to Milan to fulfil his destiny at Inter.
In the 1982/83 season, he served as understudy to Ivano Bordon, the Nerazzurri legend who in 1979 had set the club record for consecutive clean sheets in Serie A. It was during this campaign that Zenga experienced the thrill of making his first-team debut, and – when Bordon moved to Sampdoria the following summer – he later become the club’s No.1 keeper. It was the beginning of the legend of a man the Inter faithful would christen Spider Man, though Gianni Brera preferred to call him Deltaplano – the Hang Glider. It is a fine way of summing up the grace with which Zenga defended his goal.
As a goalkeeper, Zenga was elegant, acrobatic, spectacular. At times, it seemed as if time would stand still as he prepared to produce a last-gasp save or stretch out a fingertip to divert an apparently unreachable shot. The Inter fans quickly fell in love with the passion he showed on the pitch, the way he stood firm under pressure and the bond he so clearly felt with the club. Zenga’s efforts were rewarded with the record-breaking Scudetto win of 1989, one Italian Super Cup triumph and two UEFA Cups.
The second UEFA Cup win was the fitting climax of Zenga’s love story with Inter. In what was one of the most difficult seasons of the club’s existence, with Inter even flirting with relegation, Zenga and Co. earned their redemption against Austria Salzburg at a fortress-like San Siro on 11 May 1994. The keeper was in scintillating form, stopping everything the opposition threw at him, whipping the crowd up behind the team and finally parading the famous cup around the pitch amid joyous scenes. The moment sealed Zenga’s legend status with the Nerazzurri faithful – but it would be his last match for the club.
On 22 July 1994, Zenga joined Sampdoria, the club he had always said were his second team. He would spend two season in Genoa, winding down his Serie A career, before moving to Padova for a season in Serie B and finally crossing the pond to represent New England Revolution for two seasons.
Yet Zenga has kept Inter in his heart.
"Inter is the club of my life," he told Inter Channel recently. "I’ve had the privilege of growing up as an Inter fan, playing for all of the youth teams, serving as a ball boy, cheering the side on from the Curva and wearing the shirt 473 times."
The bond between Zenga and Inter is clearly a very special one. It is a bond forged by each and every one of his spectacular saves. A bond made up of unforgettable memories. A bond made up of love for F.C. Internazionale.
Davide Zanelli
