Inter CEO Beppe Marotta discussed the passing of former Nerazzurri defender Mauro Bellugi and the upcoming derby against AC Milan with Italian media earlier today.
Speaking in an interview with Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport earlier today, Marotta touched on what Bellugi meant to Inter and Italian football in general.
“First of all, it was sudden because I heard from him last week and one could not foresee such a situation.
“There is a lot of bitterness and grief not only among Inter fans but also among all those who love football and have seen his exploits with Inter, Bologna, Napoli and also with the national team.
“Mauro was a great player, but he loved his job until the very end. He followed Inter’s fate even as he fought this difficult illness. I remember the values he managed to transmit when he played football.
“A courageous defender, his greatest virtues were his competitive nature and his technique. I remember his professionalism and his attachment to the values of the shirts he wore.”
He commented on Bellugi’s attachment to the Nerazzurri and how things were different in the past.
“Absolutely. A romantic football, linked to the past. The kind where players were flags and moved from one club to another less often because they were so attached to the shirts they wore. Bellugi was attached to Inter.
“It was a football of patronage, romanticism, in which families were very attached to the players who played for their teams.
“This synergy, this sense of belonging is hard to find again today. Both because there are no longer this kind of ownership, and because players frequently change teams.”
The Nerazzurri CEO discussed some personal memories involving himself and Bellugi.
“The most moving memories were the last few days, when he had surgery on his legs and no longer had any legs. We spoke and he was enthusiastic about working with us.
“I told him to be an observer for us, try to see the games and tell us your impressions.
“I saw him charged up, enthusiastic, as if he was going to return to the pitch. He said, laughing, that for a footballer not having legs is like a pianist not having hands. These are touching things, they made me think.”
Finally, Marotta looked ahead to tomorrow’s Milanese derby against the Rossoneri and Bellugi’s impact in that fixture.
“The derby has a special taste. Bellugi played many of these derbies. I watch them as a spectator but the derby is an extraordinary, it divides the city in two.
“The players who take to the pitch are like going to the arena. Tomorrow we’ll see a derby without a crowd and without a crowd football is nothing.
“There is a missing component. We have to play the derby without forgetting him, with the black band of mourning and the minute of recollection as we have been granted by the League and FIGC.
“It’s the minimum for a champion who has left us.”
Bellugi sadly passed away earlier today at the age of 71. The former Italian international was forced to have his legs amputated back in December of last year, due to complications stemming from Covid-19.
Tomorrow’s Milanese derby is a special occasion, as it is the first time in a decade that the top spot of Serie A will be decided in a meeting between Antonio Conte and Stefano Pioli’s sides.
