In his Friday editorial, my colleague and friend Hampus Kärki wrote about the word legend and how he was worried that the overuse of the word would make it less important. My intention with this column isn’t to criticize Hampus for his thoughts but rather try to defend my own. I am, unlike Hampus and many others, very generous with the word legend, probably too unconditional to many. That’s not true, I have requirements and criteria, and it’s about these I will write in this week’s Monday editorial.
Must the player have been a good footballer to be called a legend?
Obviously, a player must have been good to be called legend. After all, it’s about football and a player can’t be called legend if he hasn’t been good at what he did. Note, however, that I don’t have the requirement that the player must have been the best. The fact that a player has been the best doesn’t automatically mean that a player is guaranteed legendary status in my opinion. It’s proved otherwise by players like Christian Vieri, Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. There’s no doubt that these players were among the best on the team during their periods in Inter, but because of what they did after their time at Inter, I would never go so far as to call them Inter legends. A player who wasn’t the best, but who was almost always good and still is a legend in my eyes is Nicola Berti. He played 311 matches for Inter during 10 seasons and scored 41 goals. He wasn’t always the best on the pitch, but he was basically never the worst on the pitch. He won the Scudetto with Inter in 1988/89, but stayed nearly nine seasons at the club, and after a 0-3 loss in the Coppa Italia against Milan he delivered the legendary quote: “Meglio sconfitti che milanisti” (Better to be losers than Milan Fans).
Is it an advantage if the person has been in the club for a long period to be called legend?
For me to call a player to legend, it’s an advantage if the player has been a long time in the club, at least between five and ten years. It allows the player to be involved in both good and bad times with the club. Javier Zanetti’s long time at Inter is reason enough for him to be a legend, but it’s so much more that makes him a legend so I choose here to talk about another player I would like to give legend status: Marco Materazzi. He is a legend to me for several reasons. First and foremost, he was at Inter during a period when the team couldn’t win, no matter how big signings the club made. the team could never go all the way. Everyone who was there during the early 2000s must remember several Derby della Madonninas, where Milan often won through goals by Shevchenko, but hopefully just as many remember how Matrix fought hard for Inter and how he time after time, sometimes fair and most of times unfair, ways tried to stop the Ukrainian. Materazzi had offers from other clubs while at Inter, but chose to remain and thus he was there during the glory days that began in 2006 and peaked in 2010.
Does it matter what the person has done after he left Inter or retired?
For me it’s obvious that the decisions a player makes, and what he says, after he leaves Inter is affecting whether he is to be regarded as an Inter Legend. I will never, for example, call a player like Lucio a legend, despite all he did for Inter in 2009/10 for the simple reason that he made the dumb choice to go to Juventus. The way a player leaves the club also affects my judgment. Wesley Sneijder could have been a legend, but I didn’t like the way he left Inter, although the bitter parting was not only his fault. One that however is a legend in my eyes, is Inter’s former goalkeeper Walter Zenga who not only showed great affection for Inter during his 12 seasons with the club, but also continues to show that even though years have passed since that sad day of summer 1994, when he was part of a deal that brought him to Sampdoria. Zenga always speaks well of Inter and declares his love for the club even though he’s coached other teams. A self-written legend for me.
The player MUST have proven their loyalty and love for Inter to be called a legend
This is the main requirement. If the player doesn’t meet this, it does not matter how good he was or how many titles he won. A player like Julio Cesar is a legend for me farewell to Inter wasn’t what I hoped for. He showed several times that he had Inter at heart, he bled for the club. Now he’s rumored to be heading back to Italy, and the only thing that could complicate his legend status would be that he went to Juventus. I would even be able to tolerate that he went to Milan and still call him for Inter Legend. Ivan Cordoba and Esteban Cambiasso are two other players who fit into this category and will be described as legends by me.
I’m aware and almost certain that far from everyone will agree with me on my thoughts. We all have our personal favorite players and even personal criteria for what makes a player a legend. For me, it’s an important part of being a supporter, a way to thank the players for loving the same club I do.
