Coming off a Scudetto winning season, Inter went into the 1963-64 season with aspirations of repeating as Scudetto champions. Despite the added responsibility of competing for the European Cup as well, the La Grande Inter side was up for the challenge starting the season in fine form, winning six out of their first eight matches to start the domestic campaign.
As round twenty match in against Torino approached, Inter found themselves in third place and in the middle of a tough fight for Scudetto against bitter rivals and second placed AC Milan and surprising league leaders in Bologna after nineteen rounds.
Despite a rocky start to their season, Bologna were in brilliant form and enjoying a nine-game winning streak during which they had overtaken reigning European Cup winners AC Milan. Having lost an opportunity during first half of the season to win three points against both scudetto race teams, Inter were in a must win situation already in early February in order to keep pace in the race for league title, specially after tying and dropping points at home against mid-table side, Vicenza.
Torino were struggling to find any consistency to turn their season around, as they prepared to host Inter in round twenty. After starting their season with only one win after nine games, Torino put together a series of impressive performances towards the end of 1963 where they had a stretch of seven games without a loss and were firmly out of the relegation zone. Having lost to Inter at San Siro 3-1 in round three, Torino were looking retribution as they prepared for rematch against the Nerazzurri at home.
Right from kick-off, intentions of the hosts were clear, play Catenaccio style tactics and try to score on counter-attack opportunities. On the other hand, Helenio Herrera had his preferred 5-3-2 formation with leading goal scorers Sandro Mazzola and Jair da Costa leading the front line. Inter dominated possession right from the start.
Despite Torino’s defensive setup from the start, it didn’t take Inter long to break the deadlock, as Jair da Costa scored first goal of the match around seven minutes mark, after receiving a cross from Giacinto Faccetti at the far right post. With the defenders rushing to catch-up with him and goal-keeper closing the gap quickly, Da Costa quickly controlled the ball on his right smashed home the volley to give Nerazzurri an important early lead.
Game went into half-time at 1-0 to Inter. After conceding the early lead, Torino came out strong trying to press higher in their attempt to win possession and mount a counter-attack to score the tying goal, however Inter were up to the task and maintained the clean sheet. As play resumed in second half, Torino committed men forward seeking the game tying goal while Inter focused more on pushing the ball through the middle quickly to create scoring opportunities for Mazzola and Da Costa by catching Granata side out of position.
Herrera’s tactical adjustment paid off early in second half. Following a turnover in the midfield, Mazzola received the ball on the left wing and dribbled through Torino defense by cutting inside on his right, while pushing off defender and struck a crossbody shot into the bottom left corner of the goal, to put Inter ahead 2-0. The game ended with Nerazzurri coming out on top with a two goal margin and gain two points on league leaders Bologna who tied their match earlier in the day against Atalanta.
Controversial End to 1963-64 Scudetto Race:
Bologna and Inter would go on to end the season, tied on points. Leading up to last match day, Bologna was penalized three points for their win against Torino on February 2nd after five of their players were caught using performance enhancing drugs.
However, a later appeal by Bologna and controversial second test samples led full acquittal of Bologna players. This returned the three points to Bologna after May 4th, 1964 ruling. As result, for the first and only time ever, the scudetto was decided by a one game winter take-all final played with Bologna being the home side against Inter. Bologna won the match 2-0, crowing them as the 1963-64 Serie A champions.
