Nostalgic five-a-side teams: picking a line-up for … Inter

Picking five players to personify Internazionale as a club is perhaps the way I looked at this, albeit with a late 1980s, early 1990s bias. Presenting the Official Inter Podcast in English means I have to have my head in the archives and therefore indulge in the stories of the early days.
The Grande Inter team as well as their recent history fascinate me. The earliest games I saw were in the late 1980s and that means some more recent contenders fell by the wayside. These are the players who embody what it is to be Inter as well as being the best in their positions in that generation.
The Spider, as Walter Zenga was known, was a phenomenal goalkeeper and one of the greatest of his generation. He is Inter through and through: born in Milan, he was Nerazzurri from the word go. He idolised the club and, not surprisingly, the stars aligned – he played for them for 23 years. In that time, he won Serie A, the Uefa Cup twice and an Italian Super Cup. Perhaps he should have won more but Milan had something to say about that.
Zenga was a showman in between the posts, his grand gestures and celebrations after a save all part of his passion and his act. The character and the person were the same and his lightning reflexes and incredible leap meant that, in an era when the best strikers in the world were in Serie A, he was the Azzurri and Inter’s No 1. Admittedly, when picking Zenga, I had to have in mind the more recent Júlio César and Francesco Toldo. Perhaps Ivano Bordon, at Inter from 1970-83, deserves a mention and especially Giuliano Sarti (part of the Grande Inter team) could have rivalled him.
I had the privilege of interviewing “Lo Zio” (“The Uncle”) in 2015 and standing alone at the side of San Siro, he was as imposing as the stadium. The way he spoke was so calm and yet one hung on every word as if everything he said was the undeniable truth. He described the complex job of defending so well it seemed like it was all obvious. You could see why he was the embodiment of a captain even at such a young age, when he emerged sporting that huge moustache.
Bergomi would play more than 500 league games for Inter and really does represent what it is to pull on the shirt. He lifted a few trophies at a time when calcio ruled the world – the Scudetto in 1989 and a Coppa Italia plus three Uefa Cups and an Italian Super Cup.
A quick, hardworking and versatile defender, he could play central defence, right-back and sweeper and his football intelligence was hard to match as he was adept in various systems and tactics. His professionalism and the respect he has from fellow players show why he is one of Inter’s greatest ever.
Richard Hall’s interview with “Beppe Bergomi” in 2015
“Il Capitano”. When we talk about Bergomi and Giacinto Facchetti as embodying what it means to be Inter, Javier Zanetti stands right next to them. The ultimate servant to the club even to this day, “Pupi” has a list of honours that I simply haven’t got space for – 16 in total – and was the man who lifted every trophy in the Treble season.
He holds the record for the most appearances for the club, an incredible 858. This is even more impressive when you consider how much ground he could cover, earning the Argentinian the nickname “El Tractor”.
There are lots of players – Roberto Carlos, Facchetti (who nearly made this team), Maicon and many more who could take this position – but how can you not have Zanetti? Mr “Forever Young” will always be in the hearts of the Nerazzurri and his leadership and ability to uphold the values of the club make him one of the best, if not the greatest player, to have worn the blue and black stripes.
The Peter Pan of Inter never changed his hair: “Feeling my hair in place gives me confidence. It’s a question of image but also of character,” he said. Even his hair had a meaning.
Where do I start with Matthäus? If you were there to see him in Milan you would have witnessed the best in the world at that time. Not as beautiful a player as Diego Maradona, he was efficient and deadly. This is a man who in the late 80s and early 90s displaced Maradona and Napoli, showcasing the northern Italian might over the flash of the south.
Due to his direct style and brutal efficiency, Matthäus should probably sit under the umbrella of “the most underrated of the best players in history”. In 1991, he was Fifa’s world player of the year when at Inter, when Serie A was the best league in the world. He perhaps didn’t play as long in the league as he should have (or as he wanted). However, 40 goals in 115 games showed his importance as Giovanni Trapattoni lifted Inter back to the top. A Scudetto, a Uefa Cup and an Italian Super Cup were impressive rewards for his time in San Siro. Perhaps if he had stayed longer – he was at the club from 1988-92 – Inter may have won more but his legacy is immense.
People may ask: why Meazza? I have an easy answer that comes in three parts. He is still regarded as one of the best Italian sportsmen or women in history, he is Inter’s top scorer of all time and the stadium is named after him, so that is not a bad résumé. For all of the professionalism and discipline in the players above, there has to be a maverick. In all of Inter’s history, steel has been sprinkled on the club while the gold has been bought in chunks. For every Álvaro Recoba there has been a bad defence, but even before Massimo Moratti it was the norm for Inter to invest in beauty rather than stability. It is the addictive curse that has always plagued the blue-and-black half of Milan.
In Meazza’s place there could have been Ronaldo (he also played for Milan, so technically is vetoed), Diego Milito, Lautaro Martínez and so many more but when you ask for a forward you ask for this man. You want someone who is prolific in front of goal, 242 league goals in 365 games tell their own story, while he also had three Scudetti and a Coppa Italia to his name. His off-field antics were legendary, often turning up late after some “Milanese nightlife” only to score a hat-trick. This man embodies the fun side of Inter and his name evokes the romantic side of the club for all those who visit the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.