INTER GREAT MAZZOLA PASSES AWAY AT 83

SANDRO MAZZOLA, the Inter Milan legend who almost wrecked Celtic’s historic European Cup triumph in Lisbon on May 25 1967, has passed away at the age of 83.

The Italian international striker swept a seventh-minute penalty-kick past Ronnie Simpson in the Portuguese capital and the score remained 1-0 until the 63rd minute.

Tommy Gemmell produced a spectacular equaliser before Stevie Chalmers whipped in the winner on an unforgettable evening in the club’s history.

Mazzola was wholesome in his praise of Jock Stein’s team afterwards and said they had been “superhuman” in their landmark victory.

The San Siri great played for Inter for two decades from 1957 to 1977, scoring 162 goals in 566 games. He also won four Serie A titles, two European Cups and two Intercontinental Cups with the Milan giants.

He netted 22 goals in 70 international appearances and played in the Italy team beaten 4-1 by Brazil in the memorable World Cup Final in Mexico in 1970.

Celtic book author Alex Gordon interviewed Mazzola for his tribute 2018 publication to Celtic icon Billy McNeill, entitled ‘In Praise of Caesar‘.

Here is an extract from the chapter with Mazzola giving his thoughts on the man who became the first Briton to hold aloft the European Cup.

“I REMEMBER well Billy McNeill’s performance against Internazionale Milan in the European Cup Final in the Portuguese capital in 1967.

“Helenio Herrera, our manager, went to Scotland to check on Celtic in person. He noted all their players, their strengths and their weaknesses. He told us of the Celtic captain and his ability in the air. To be honest, this did not worry the Internazionale players because we played our football on the ground.

“High balls, even at corner-kicks, would have been most unusual to our style of football.

“However, Billy McNeill was, indeed, majestic. A very capable centre-half who played it very simple. When he got the ball he would pass it to his team-mates in the middle of the park. We tried to put pressure on Celtic, but on this day we were not to be successful.

“We were also informed to expect him to be hard, but fair. There were many defenders in that era who didn’t perform with a lot of discipline. They were not too fussy about how they won the ball when they challenged an opponent.

“Billy McNeill, we were reassured, was not one of these players. It is always good for a forward player to hear this news.”

ON THE ATTACK…Sandro Mazzola threatens Celtic in Lisbon with John Clark and Ronnie Simpson keeping a close watch on the Inter Milan dangerman.

Mazzola added: “Possibly, we did not give them the full respect they were due. We had won the European Cup in two of the previous three years and we had beaten Real Madrid, the 1966 winners, en route to Lisbon. We were the favourites.

“We believed it would be an easy game. That was the biggest mistake we could possibly have made! When I scored with my penalty-kick early in the match, I thought that would allow us to slow the pace of the game and dictate the tempo. We did this every week in Italy.

“The Celtic players would not allow us to do this. They refused to let us play our normal game. Celtic were superhuman and I have never known a team with so much energy.

“You could say they took us by surprise. However, we had no complaints about the result. They beat us fair and square.

“Billy McNeill has been a magnificent ambassador for Celtic for many, many years.”