Derby Della Madonnina - The Mazzola and Rivera Years

The Mazzola and Rivera Years

In the 1960s the Milan derby saw two big stars of Italian football come face to face. One of the most representative players of Inter was Sandro Mazzola, the son of the Torino player Valentino Mazzola (who along with most of his Torino teammates, died in a plane crash in 1949 after dominating Serie A for four seasons). His Milan counter-part was Gianni Rivera, nicknamed Golden Boy for his talent. This era saw brilliant derby matches and an increasing rivalry: while Milan won the European Cup in 1962–63, Inter followed it up with back to back success in the following years. Milan again won the title in 1968–69. During this successful period for both teams, Milan were coached by Nereo Rocco and Inter were led by Helenio Herrera, both coaching many notable players.

The rivalry continued in the Italian national team, where the two players would often not play together, with one usually being substituted by the other at halftime. Rivera ended up losing the starting line-up to Mazzola in the 1970 final against Brazil, in which Italy was defeated 1–4 by the South Americans. He would later enter in the 84th minute, after Italy was already crushed. Many coaches and fans saw this as a mistake by the then coach Ferruccio Valcareggi, as the more dynamic Rivera could have changed the shift of the match.