Perhaps some of you have forgotten this article:
Pills in the coffee. That Herrera gave to players. Many of whom have died. A former player recounts the doping of the Great Inter. And calls to the stand all the champions of that time for an interview with Ferruccio Mazzola.
These are champions who made the history of Italian football, who will pass, one after the other, in a courtroom in Rome to talk about doping. Like Giacinto Facchetti, splendid left-back and now president of Inter; or Sandro Mazzola, Mariolino Corso, Luis Suarez. And also: Tarcisio Burnich, Gianfranco Bedin, Angelo Domenghini, Aristide Guarneri. All called to testify by their former teammate, Ferruccio Mazzola, younger brother of Sandro, who wants to hear from their mouths - and under oath - the truth about that Great Inter that won in Italy and around the world in the 1960s. "I didn’t seek this trial: I was drawn into it. But now everything must come out," says Ferruccio.
What is Mazzola referring to?
"I was also part of that Inter, even though I didn’t play much as a starter. I personally witnessed the practices that the players were subjected to. I saw the coach, Helenio Herrera, giving the pills to put under the tongue. He experimented with them on the reserves (I was often among them) and then gave them to the starters as well. Some would take them, some would secretly spit them out. It was my brother Sandro who told me: if you don’t want to swallow it, go to the bathroom and throw it away. That’s what many did. But then one day Herrera noticed that we were spitting them out, so he started dissolving them in coffee. From that day on, Herrera's "coffee" became a practice at Inter."
What was in those pills?
"I don’t know for sure, but I believe they were amphetamines. Once after that coffee, during a Como-Inter match in 1967, I was in a state of total hallucination for three days and three nights, like an epileptic. Today, incredibly, everyone denies it. Even Sandro…".
Your brother?
"Yes. Sandro and I haven’t spoken since I decided to bring this story to light. He says that dirty laundry should be washed at home. I, on the other hand, believe it’s right to say these things, also for my teammates who got sick and perhaps paid with their lives. Many, too many…".
Who are you referring to?
"The first was Armando Picchi, the captain of that team, who died at 36 from cancer of the spinal column. Then it was Marcello Giusti’s turn, who played in the reserves and died from a brain cancer at the end of the 1990s. Carlo Tagnin, someone who never refused the pills because he wasn’t a top player and wanted to extend his career by running like a kid, died of osteosarcoma in 2000. Mauro Bicicli passed away in 2001 from liver cancer. Ferdinando Miniussi, the reserve goalkeeper, died in 2002 from liver cirrhosis due to hepatitis C. Enea Masiero, who was at Inter between '55 and '64, is undergoing chemotherapy. Pino Longoni, who went through Inter’s youth teams before going to Fiorentina, has a vascular disease and is in a wheelchair, with no hope of recovery…".
Aside from Picchi and perhaps Tagnin, the others are less well-known names compared to the great champions.
"Because the reserves took more of those little white pills. I told you, we bench players were used as guinea pigs. I talked about it for the first time a few months ago in my autobiography ('Il terzo incomodo', written with Fabrizio Càlzia, Bradipolibri 2004, ed.) which led to the trial in Rome."
Why?
"Because after the publication of that book, I received a defamation lawsuit signed by Facchetti, in his capacity as president of Inter. Do they want to go in front of a judge? Great: on November 19 there will be the second hearing and we will ask that all the players from that team, meaning those who are still alive, come to the courtroom to testify. I want to see if under oath they will have the courage not to tell the truth."
But weren’t you friends with Facchetti?
"Yes, but let’s leave Facc
