Inter’s memory for Luis Suarez

FC Internazionale Milano, President Steven Zhang, Vice President Javier Zanetti, Chief Executive Officers Alessandro Antonello and Giuseppe Marotta, Head Coach Simone Inzaghi and his staff, players, and the whole Inter family are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Luis Suarez and would like to send their sincerest condolences to his family.

There are thousands of players who have worn the Inter shirt. Some for hundreds of matches, some for just a few minutes. They all have a place in the fans' memory, they have in some way etched a piece of the club's history. 115 years of history is a lot, countless matches, victories, defeats, legendary evenings, difficult nights. There are stories and characters, plots. Then there are the fixed stars, those who have illuminated the Nerazzurri's journey so brilliantly that they are there, forever: brilliant as they were, as players and as characters. Unique, incomparable, unforgettable.

Luis Suárez Miramontes: impossible to rank, difficult even to encapsulate in a description. Had he played in the present day, social media would be clogged with videos of his gameplay. We can imagine the Tik Toks of his pinpoint finishing, reels with his dribbles. In a world that attaches labels and easy praise, Luisito, even as a boy, was the 'maestro'. Because he wore the ten, played with his head held high, used his right and his left. He saw the game, played with pace and a unique style. He had enchanted from his first outings with Deportivo (he was born in La Coruna, on 2 May 1935). Son of a butcher, brother of two footballers. At the age of 18, he took the field for the first time with his hometown team, against Barcelona. The Blaugrana won 6-1, but all eyes and comments were on him. László Kubala, the formidable Hungarian centre forward, who would later become his teammate, said at the end of the match: 'This boy will go a long way'.

His seriousness in life equalled his seriousness on the pitch, his pace went hand in hand with a unique and complete vision of the game. He was the architect of the game: a perfect definition, coined by one of the greatest ever, Alfredo Di Stefano. When Luisito's path crossed with that of Helenio Herrera, the road to success began to unfold. Victories and triumphs with Barcelona, acclaim at European level with the winning of the Ballon d'Or in 1960: the first, and so far only, Spaniard to win it. He was also the first Spaniard to play in the Italian league: he arrived at Inter in 1961, at the request of Angelo Moratti. A deal so important that with the proceeds of his sale Barcelona completed the construction of the stadium, the Camp Nou.

Herrera and Suarez, together to take Inter to the very top of Italy, of Europe, of the World. The newspapers, 20 years before pasting his nickname on Diego Armando Maradona, dubbed him 'Pibe de Oro'. Herrera, on the day of his presentation in the Nerazzurri, labelled him as follows: 'He has the speed of Bicicli, the dribbling of Corso, the strength of Lindskog, the dribbling of Sivori, the shot of Altafini'. The perfect footballer, in short: regista and trequartista, assistman and finisher.

He literally architected the Nerazzurri successes: he, the No.10 of the Grande Inter, together with his teammates formed that unique and legendary chorus of names that won 3 Scudetto's, 2 Cup Winners' Cups, 2 Intercontinental Cups. There was a classic move that really would captivate the interest of all fans, pundits, scholars today: Suarez dribbled, then almost effortlessly, fired it forwards. The ball would always land perfectly, 40 metres ahead, before anyone could learn anything about it. And that ball was there, settling precisely for the run of a team-mate, most often Giacinto Facchetti.

The friendship with Armando Picchi, the bond with the entire Nerazzurri world, the desire to impart his own idea of football almost assuming the role of coach. In his tenure at Inter, he sat in the Nerazzurri dugout three times, then as observer and manager he signed, among others, Ronaldo.

Saying goodbye to Luisito leaves us with a profound sadness: nostalgia for his perfect and incomparable football, which inspired generations, is combined with the memory of a unique footballer and a great, great Inter player. We will miss him, because as Helenio Herrera preached, “If you don't know what to do, give the ball to Suarez”.

L'ultimo saluto a Luisito sarà martedì 11 luglio alle h 14:45 presso la parrocchia San Giuseppe Calasanzio, in via don Gnocchi, 16 - Milano.