Everyone knew Ottavio Bianchi, he had directed Diego Maradona's famous Napoli in the 80s. The allenatore was sitting next to a table on the first floor of the La Pinetina complex. He lit a cigar, took a deck of cards and with them drew a 5-3-2 system. He looked up and asked, "Where do you play?" He had no idea who was that reinforcement that he had not asked for, who was that boy who had followed the scene with astonishing silence. It was Javier Zanetti.
The day Javier Zanetti became a legend
Football teaches that you should never underestimate anyone because they may be waiting for a legendary destiny. That day, the star had been Sebastián Rambert, Internazionale's sensation signing for the imminent 1995/96 season. Javier had crossed the access to the property with the boots under his arm, among a hundred journalists and fans who never noticed him.
The day before he had been presented at Terraza Martini, an emblematic building in Milan. It was June 5th and it was pouring outside. Inside, flanked by Giacinto Facchetti, Antonio Angelillo and Giuseppe Bergomi, Javier supported the tie that, in truth, did not match the first suit he had bought in his life.
Almost all the questions were received by Pascualito Rambert. Later, in the offices of the Saras company, of the wealthy oil man Massimo Moratti, he was going to meet who would be much more than his employer.
"Javier arrived as a result of fun. I liked to watch soccer and they had pointed me to an Argentine striker, Ariel Ortega, that's why we followed him to the Pan American Games that had been played a few months before in Mar del Plata. But there I was struck by a defender who he dribbled everyone. A few months later, while some Inter executives were in Argentina to sign Rambert, they called me to ask what they should do with that defender. I watched the video again with my son Mao, he loved it, and they loved it. I said bring him to Italy," Moratti, the heir to the famous Angelo, once recounted.
Since then, a fabulous story was built, which today reserved a magical moment: Inter decided to retire the number 4 shirt, Zanetti's seal, forever.No foreigner played more seasons in Italy (19) nor did anyone play more games than Zanetti (858), for all competitions, in the 107 years of Inter's life. It is difficult to find someone so identified with a club, perhaps the endless Brazilian goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni (Sao Paulo), or the fantastic Maldini (Milan), or emblems like Ryan Giggs (Manchester United), Raúl (Real Madrid) or Xavi (Barcelona). )... In any case, Zanetti belongs to none other than that team. "There is simply no one like it", was heard last night from every corner of the San Siro, before, during and after the charity match played by Zanetti and his friends, within the framework of "I più grandi campioni in campo per i più piccoli", one of the charity works inside the Milan Expo.
No one was missing. The stars dazzled: Maldini, Shevchenko, Cafu, Vieri, Zamorano, Zenga, Baresi, Eto'o, Figo, Nesta, Cannavaro, Seedorf, Costacurta, Stankovic, Rubén Sosa, Nicola Berti, Ambrosino, Abbiati, Inzaghi and the Argentines Icardi, Crespo, Cambiasso, Samuel and Nico Burdisso, among many. Zanetti, in May 2011, became the first Argentine -and is still the only one- to break the barrier of 1,000 professional matches. A year ago he retired and since then the Malaysian billionaire Erick Thohir, the new owner of Inter, has relied on the incredible Pupi umbrella to overcome difficult months of soccer wandering. He had promised to take this step and took advantage of yesterday's friendly solidarity. "Among the Inter players who will enter the field, none will wear the 4 shirt. You are an icon, a club legend, a legend all over the world. Now you are our leader and together we will raise other cups, I'm sure," Thohir stressed in his tribute to Il Capitano.
In the NBA it is common practice to remove the jersey. A gesture full of gratitude and admiration. As happened in the Chicago Bulls with Jordan's 23, or in the Lakers with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 33 and Magic Johnson's 32, or in the Celtics with Larry Bird's 33, among many others. Calcio records some precedents, among the greatest, when Inter itself withdrew Giacinto Facchetti's 3 after the death of the Neroazurro symbol in 2006 , at the age of 64. But, in addition, Milan made that warm decision with the 6 of Franco Baresi and the 3 of Paolo Maldini.
Also, Brescia stopped using Roberto Baggio's 10, and Cagliari retired Gigi Riva's 11; Genoa the 7 of Marco Rossi and also the 6 of Gianluca Signorini, when its historic captain passed away at the age of 42. Among some more examples, Livorno's 25 belonged to Piermario Morosini, and the club "elevated" it in April 2012 when the midfielder died after a heart attack. Roma withdrew the Brazilian Aldair's No. 6... but eventually decided to use it again. And Maradona... he left Napoli in 1991 and in 2000 the club decided to immortalize the No. 10, but in 2004 Societa Sportiva was forced to use it in Serie C, and finally in 2006 he "dismissed" the jacket again to always.
The story tells... Pupi was about to play the eighth of the 145 games (another record) that he would play for the Argentine team. It was May 12, 1995, one day before the game that Argentina would draw 1-1 with South Africa at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
He shared the room with Ratón Ayala when DT Passarella called him and asked him to come by his room. Pupi went and there the Kaiser showed him the fax that the Italian club had sent to the coach -of strong ties due to his past in the entity- notifying him of the transfer. Closing the terms of the agreement with Banfield, at 3,000,000 dollars, was not easy because Zanetti's pass, at that time, belonged to an investment group made up of ten different people. Late in the morning of the last possible day to negotiate, Julio Grondona appeared: "The boy's pass has to be done"..., and the situation was unblocked.
Completed the formalities and the first practices, Zanetti traveled to the preseason in Cavalese, the ski resort on the mountain, in the province of Trento. They were as surprised by his physical strength as they were upset with his individualism. Together with Zanetti and Rambert, Roberto Carlos and the Englishman Paul Ince had been hired. At that time the regulations only allowed three foreigners on the pitch...some could be loaned out. A preseason friendly, against Varese, was providential. Zanetti shone and convinced everyone. He debuted as a starter on the first date, with Vicenza... and he didn't come out anymore. With what number? There was 4..., no one had chosen it. Since then the myth of Zanetti in Internazionale began to grow. And one day he became a legend.
Source images: Twitter Javier Zanetti.
hanks for supporting, voting and curating my content @r2cornell.