Guarneri looks back on La Grande Inter

APPIANO GENTILE – Former Inter defender Aristide Guarneri appeared on Inter Channel’s Memorabilia programme on Wednesday night to look back on his career with the Nerazzurri, which coincided with one of the most famous teams in the club’s history: La Grande Inter.

Guarneri began at the beginning, revealing how he took his first steps in the game.

"I started out in the youth league, playing on the right wing," said the former Nerazzurri man. "I developed quickly and dropped back into defence. I played for Codogno in the Promozione division and my professional career began from there.

"After a season in the Promozione division I went straight up to Serie A [with Inter in 1958]. I didn’t play in the first two games, but in our fourth match we beat SPAL 8-0 so it was a fantastic start."

Guarneri also spoke about the experience of being coached by the great Helenio Herrera.

"In Herrera’s first training session, he made us go and get 30 new footballs – one each. That had never happened before," he said. "It was completely new for you to use the ball right from the first season, but we scored 17 goals and conceded just three in our first three games. Usually you struggled at the start of the season because you rushed through preparations and didn’t have many summer friendlies."

Last but certainly not least, Guarneri looked back on his time as part of La Grande Inter side.

"La Grande Inter grew out of a team of great players but it happened very organically," he said. "We had five forwards and players like [Giacinto] Facchetti who spurred us on, but we were solid in defence too. All of us pitched in with goals and at San Siro we were anything but defensive."