Valentino Mazzola, the Messi of the 1940s, a sporting career cut short by the Superga plane crash.
Valentino Mazzola was considered by critics, players and specialised press as one of the best players of his time. If we had to make a comparison we would say the Lionel Messi of the 1940s.
He was the soul of his team, the powerful Italian Torino of those years. He was a member, captain and one of the main figures of the Italian national team until he died in the Superga air tragedy. It was 4 May 1949 and Europe was recovering from the fatigue of the Second World War, which had ended only a few years earlier. He was only 30 years old and already one of the leading figures in European and world football. With the mighty Torino of the second half of the 1940s he had won five consecutive championships and a Coppa Italia.
The stadium that applauded him so many times and that preserved the propeller of the plane as a mute tribute to the tragedy of one of the greatest teams of all time was in disuse for 35 years: from 1963 to 1998.
Hard times, the shine was gone, a great team had to be rebuilt. The plane was returning to Italy after a match in Lisbon (Portugal) against Benfica.
Playing against Mazzola's Torino at that time was a guarantee for spectators, a real privilege for the opposing players.
To get an idea of what Torino was like, just one fact is enough: ten of the eleven players in the Italian national team ("la nazionale azzurra") were from Toro.
There are many sports journalists who lived through that period who wondered and wonder (those who are still alive) what would have happened if the plane in which Mazzola and his team-mates were travelling had not crashed.
How far Mazzola, who at the time of the accident was only 30 years old and in the prime of his career, would have gone.
Some Italian journalists argue that there has never been a team like that in Italy. Perhaps Arrigo Sacchi's Milan with the Dutch trident (Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco Van Basten) was the closest, or some parts of Juventus.
Others argue that the famous defensive game, the Italian "catenaccio", started to be implemented after the tragedy, as it was impossible for any Italian team to pick up the sporting legacy of Mazzola and Torino.
The famous Ladislao Kubala was about to sign for Torino and was due to be on the plane for his first friendly match in a Torino shirt. Fortune was on his side. He was on the run from the Hungarian communist regime and after hiding for a few months in Italy, Pepe Samiter, former Barcelona player and manager, managed to get him Spanish nationality and sign him for the Catalan club. The rest is history. He lives 75 years and dies in 2002, thanks to not having taken that plane in which there were no survivors. Nobody survived the impact. Valentino Mazzola was not saved by fate.
At that time, the biggest prize was the sporting reviews, idols were created by the applause and admiration that defined them and legitimised them as such, neither the traditional magazine France Football nor FIFA awarded the Ballon d'Or to the best footballer of the year.
Despite being a midfielder, he was three times top scorer in the Italian championship. Those who saw him at close quarters say he was the closest thing to Alfredo Di Stéfano, a physical powerhouse with great technique. He scored between 20 and 30 goals a season.
Valentino Mazzola was more than just the undisputed captain and star of the Granata team and the Italian national team, he was also the symbol of a new generation of young footballers capable of bringing joy from the pitch, trying to make people forget the hardships and pains of war.
Great reading of a player I was completely unaware of. I was impressed by how powerful Torino was back then with almost all their players being part of the Italian national team.
Such is the cruel fate of cruel sometimes snatches away good people, good sportsman etc.
It is a tragedy similar to the one that struck Bolivia's Strongest.
Torino at that time was one of the best teams in Europe.
Valentino Mazzola's son, Sandro, was one of the scorers and stars of Inter.
Those who remember the anecdotes say that he refused to sign for Juventus (the other strong club in Turin) considering the rivalry between the two teams.
And he ended up playing for their main rival, Internazionale Milan.
Interesting anecdotes that were completely unknown to me.