Rivera on Lodetti: “He accused me of the farewell”

Those years were formidable. That first Milan of miracles was formidable. That couple was formidable in which the tasks were distinct but everyone knew what to do. Of course it was another football, so distant that it is difficult to remember it even for those who in some way experienced it, supported it, went through it. The numbers they carried on their backs and which you could quote in an instant said it first, Lodetti’s 8 and Rivera’s 10, they all knew them by heart. As if by heart we knew the roles, the tasks, the territories that the two, in that Milan, had to occupy. And the habit of seeing them and seeing them together was so strong and rooted, and not only among Milan fans, that when at a certain point the story broke it was truly something sensational, a break in a career that Lodetti experienced very badly . But first there were many beautiful and great moments. Lived together.

“good together”

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“We spent a lot of time and a lot of football together. And we got along well together.” Gianni Rivera learns of Giovanni Lodetti’s death and we understand that for him it is shocking news, one of those that push the memory switch. “There was a good relationship between us”, says the Ballon d’Or winner of that first Milan of miracles. Nine years together, a long, common journey, the Champions Cup twice, a team in which Rivera’s genius was protected by Lodetti’s great work. And then a thousand battles on the same side, because Lodetti was there and Rivera was there that day of the manhunt in Buenos Aires in the famous final of the Intercontinental Cup with the Argentinians of Estudiantes in 1969.

“worked”

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“He worked in that area of ​​the field on the right with the midfielder and the winger,” Rivera still remembers. In fact, this verb, “work”, is rarely used in football, it seems distant, but Rivera uses it instinctively when talking about that teammate’s work and his dialogue with the midfielder and the right winger. “That’s the field, we didn’t throw any shade on it.” At a certain point that story experienced a sort of short circuit, an unexpected interruption. The year of this crossroads was 1970. And yes, because in that season two things happened: Lodetti was the last renunciation of technical commissioner Ferruccio Valcareggi, the twenty-third man, the last sacrificed to arrive at the choice of the 22 Azzurri who then they went to Mexico after Anastasi’s injury: he at home, Boninsegna and Prati called up. “Yes, I remember, of course I remember.” Rivera, however, went and what happened happened: Italy-Germany 4-3 and then the mechanism of the relay jammed on the best and most beautiful Rivera who did not come on in Mazzola’s place, at the moment in which the script expected it, but only later, replacing Boninsegna, when Brazil had already overwhelmed us and then the tomatoes of the disappointed protesters would arrive upon the return to Fiumicino.

“we were disappointed”

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In reality, however, something else happened in those weeks: Lodetti’s story at Milan ended. “He was a little upset about it and in some way he also held me responsible. As the most representative player, that’s what he thought, he had hoped for my intervention. He wanted to stay at Milan, he cared about it. But that was a choice made by the club in which I I couldn’t have a say in the matter.” And the story, the long story of that Milan, ended. Rivera remained with the Rossoneri, Lodetti became a Sampdoria player and, a few years later, he found his old colors again by going to Foggia. They said enough a year later, Lodetti left in 1978, Rivera the following season. But that “we got along well” had long since ended.