Mario Corso, Inter Legend, and part of “La Grande Inter” had a long interview with FcInterNews.it retracing his past in the Nerazzurri shirt and talking about the current Inter team under Spalletti.
Among the many pages of history written with the Inter shirt, what is the most beautiful memory linked to the Nerazzurri colors?
“I remember with pride the streak that led us to win the European Cup in 1963-64. Especially the semi-final against Liverpool: at San Siro we completed a perfect comeback in front of our audience, in which I also scored the provisional 1-0, opening the dances of a game etched in history.”
La Grande Inter is universally recognized as one of the strongest teams in the history of football: what was the real strength of that group?
“The squad was very tight, the usual 13/14 players were always playing, and we were always close, in the dressing room there was a nice atmosphere, each of us was determined to achieve the result and we were all on the pitch giving 100% for this shirt .”
What was relationship with “The Magician” Helenio Herrera?
“I do not have a positive memory of Herrera, he did not like my presence, every year he would talk to the President and asked for my transfer, but I never gave up and stayed at Inter for many years. Then he came back in 1973 and insisted again on selling me. There was a long disagreement, the Corso-Herrera relationship existed only on the football field. President Moratti was very kind to me, he always told me that Herrera did everything to send me away, but he was absolutely against me leaving. He would tell Herrera that he had put me on the market but nobody wanted to buy me. He was telling white lies for me.”
What memory do you have of Giacinto Facchetti?
“He was a great man, he always played for Inter, giving his best for this shirt, he was an exquisite person, a true gentleman, but I have to say that the whole group was made up of really exceptional people, both on and off the pitch”
A special thought also goes to Giuliano Sarti, who died last June 5 …
“Absolutely, he was a very good person and I was particularly close to him, I also went to his funeral, it was very touching for me to say goodbye for the last time”.
You are the inventor of the so-called “knuckle-ball” free kick, which was then taken up in modern football by players like Pirlo, Baggio and Del Piero, even if with the other foot. How was this style of kicking born?
“It’s not easy to hit it like this: you need first of all good technical qualities, and then you need a lot of training: the players who came after me over the years probably had a small advantage. In my time the ball was very heavy and not playable, it was not easy to lift it over the wall. ”
Let’s take a dive into the present: how do you see Spalletti’s team this year?
“With the arrival of the new coach everything changed, the entire squad, which has remained almost unchanged from last season, has performed much better. Spalletti managed to keep the team united, he has entered the head of the players. The team is running a lot and the players help each other. This great improvement is due to the coach.”
As a free-kick specialist, who would you entrust with the set pieces at Inter?
“The real problem is this: I can not understand why there has not been a specialist for several years, and in recent years there have been very few goals scored at Inter from free-kicks. Perisic seems to have the qualities to take this responsibility, but I see he is not confident, he probably does not train practice them enough.”
An opinion on Mauro Icardi, who on Sunday against Chievo reached your total in the all time Nerazzurri goalscorer list …
“I hope he will immediately go past the 94 goals mark and go ahead as much as possible. He has quality and ability to do what he wants. Mauro deserves this and more. We are in the presence a great player.”
Which current Inter player is the most similar to you?
“Everyone has their own qualities, compared to forty years ago there are completely different styles of play: Perisic is left footed as I was, he does beautiful things but in a different way, exact replicas of players have never existed”.
Saturday night the Nerazzurri have a big match, what do you think?
“Juve-Inter is a classic of Italian football, an unmissable event, we are well placed, we can do it, it will be a difficult match but within our reach.”
To conclude, a brief thought on the National Team…
“The exclusion from the World Cup was something unthinkable given the opponents we had, but the team has given very little and in my opinion in the end this Italy team was not very competitive, it seemed to me a team that was poor.”
