Legendary former Inter goalkeeper Ivano Bordon feels that a big reason for the success of the Nerazzurri team that won the Serie A title during the 1979-80 season was that the players had a close personal bond.
Speaking to the Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview published in today’s print edition, as reported by FCInterNews, the former keeper spoke about the friendship and close connection that held that Inter team together.
Inter won the Serie A title in 1980, and did so with a team that was full of highly recognizable players who had long associations with the club.
In some ways, that Inter side was a reflection of a real bygone era in terms of how the team was constructed.
Rather than being made up of players signed from all over Europe and the world, the focus was largely on players from the academy, with a few signings here and there to augment the existing squad.
“The secret of that team,” Bordon recalled, “was the friendship that came about all the way back in the youth academy where six or seven of us had already started to get to know each other and developed respect amongst ourselves.”
He went on, “We were all Italians, we lived and felt everything together, we suffered for each other and we always helped each other out.”
“Today it is unthinkable that an all-Italian team could win the Scudetto,” he noted.
“We also met with our families off the pitch,” Bordon continued, “Thursday dinner was our usual meeting time, and in that evening we laid the foundations to go and win the match on Sunday.”
