The son of former Inter Vice-President Peppino Prisco has revealed how his father made him enamoured by the Nerazzurri, whilst claiming coach Antonio Conte has become a fan of the club.
Prisco worked as Vice-President from 1963 until his death in 2001, and son Luigi recalled how his early life as a lawyer in Milan had shaped him, in an interview with La Repubblica.
“The first opponent for Peppino was the AC Milan player. Once upon a time in the city there were no Juventus fans. There were perhaps some in the younger suburbs, although I admit I have never been there,” Prisco claimed.
“I have always lived around the courthouse. I am a lawyer as my father was, and before him my grandfather who moved to Milan in 1921 for love. Going back to my great-great-grandfather, who opened the law firm Prisco in Naples.
“My father hid the existence of the other teams from me. They were abstract entities, they existed only to the extent that they had to lose against Inter. There is only Inter. It’s not just the title of the club’s anthem, it’s my life.
“It’s a dogma against which I never dared to rebel, not even when in adolescence. At fifteen I perhaps questioned my parents, like all fifteen-year-olds, but never my faith in Inter.”
Despite a hugely successful path with Juventus, current coach Conte has led Inter to the Scudetto this season and Prisco felt that by taking on the job, he had become an Inter supporter himself.
“He’s ex-Juventus, that’s right. Anyone who sits on our bench is an Inter fan to me. And I think Conte, in his own way, has really become so, intimately, especially for the welcome he received.
“But also for the way he left Juve. Ten years ago, he would never have come to Inter. But life changes men and the course of things. I also like the Zhangs, they love Inter, I hope they will stay for a long time.
“This title reminds of that of [Giovanni] Trapattoni, whose Inter had the spirit of Conte’s, but which is tactically more refined. I see the same desire to fight, the same character. Traits shared also by [Helenio] Herrera and [Jose] Mourinho, to whom I wish all the best. They were all accused of negative football.
“Without defence there is no football. I have always derided the purists. I remember those who unfairly spoke of Trapattoni at the beginning of his Inter spell, claiming that he put the games to sleep.
“It was perhaps true for about ten matches, then his Inter exploded. Attacks are the icing, the cake is organisation.”
The 67-year-old also revealed his favourite player of the current team, arguing that Italian international Nicolo Barella reminded him of former Nerazzurri midfielder Lothar Matthaus.
“I’m crazy about Barella, he’s a mixture of [Giuseppe] Furino and [Marco] Tardelli. He also reminds me of Matthaus. He has the class and the grit, determination and attachment that is difficult to summarise otherwise.”
Prisco recalled the first Scudetto that he had a memory of and how winning the Derby della Madonnina against AC Milan had sparked his father’s interest in the club as a child.
“The one in 1962-63. Peppino, Inter director since 1951, had been taking me to the San Siro since I was four years old.
For him, the Nerazzurri shock was later. It hit him when he was almost eight years old. It was 1929. Pasquale Buffola, a lawyer and friend of the family, showed up at the door with a box of German pastries.
“My grandfather, a football star, asked what reason was there to celebrate. Buffola replied: ‘We won the Derby.’ Peppino asked what the Derby was and was told: ‘the most important match, the one in which we beat Milan.'”
Finally, the lawyer addressed rumours that the Prisco law firm had many Milan fans amongst it’s employees.
“That’s right. It is true for the lawyers as well as for the secretaries. All the directors are AC Milan up to the current one, who is finally Inter.
“Peppino enjoyed the rivalry with the AC Milan fans. He had a span-high folder full of insulting letters. Almost all of from Rossoneri fans, and some of them from supporters of Borussia Monchengladbach, for the case we won in the incident of the famous can in 1971 (in which Inter striker Roberto Boninsegna was hit by a Coca-Cola can from the crowd).”