Today in Serie A – March 27, 1949: Valentino Mazzola’s Last Game for Italy | OneFootball

There was a time when international friendlies where much more than nowadays’ nuisance between league matchdays. Especially for European national sides, in an age when the only international competitions were the World Cup and the Olympic Tournament, they were a chance for teams to test themselves against some high-profile opponents that they knew very little of.

That was even truer in post World War II Europe, where football had resumed only recently, people were hungry for normality and entertainment, and players needed new challenges. The match between Spain and Italy played at the Stadio de Chamartin – Madrid’s main stadium before it would become known as the Santiago Bernabeu – on March 27, 1949, served exactly those purposes.

However, it would also go down in history as Valentino Mazzola’s last game for Italy. A little more than one month later, the Azzurri captain perished with the whole Torino team in the plan crash known as the Tragedy of Superga.

On that day, Mazzola and his bunch gifted Italy with their first win on Spanish soil as never before had the Azzurri managed to beat La Furia Roja at home. Italy won 3-1 with goals from Inter’s Benito Lorenzi, Milan’s Riccardo Carapellese, and Amedeo Amedei who also played for the Nerazzurri. Torino’s goalkeeper Valerio Bagicalupo added insult to injury for Spain as he saved a penalty from Agustìn Gainza.

Valentino Mazzola and the other Grande Torino players were the Nazionale‘s backbone. Six out of the 11 players lined up by Italy’s technical commission head Ferruccio Novo against Spain played for Torino. The Granata were widely considered the best team in Europe but, unfortunately, there was no Champions League to prove that.

One year later, both Italy and Spain featured in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. Spain managed to advance to the final stage and ended fourth, while the Azzurri did not go past the group stage. But Italy’s squad, deprived of the Grande Torino stars, was obviously not its true self.

What would have happened if the fate was not so cruel?