“He was a nice Afro-Caribbean guy…his unlucky season even turned him into the target of racist jokes. The LBP is kind of his revenge on stupidity”.

Mussolini’s presence at matches, accompanied by his sons and various members of the hierarchy, only added to the excitement of Italy’s progress.

It's hard to fathom that six years have passed since a beaming Javier Zanetti thrust the Champions League trophy above his head and let out a scream that reverberated all the way to the Piazza Duomo.

He defined the Libero role in the team which created the legend of Catenaccio, and yet this was no ordinary team, no ordinary Italian defence.

“I can pinpoint the day, the hour, the minute, the second that I doomed myself to life as an alcoholic."

Giving up la Gazzetta in a World Cup year was always going to be tough, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I failed miserably. 

It would prove to be the only league title won while all three of the ‘Gre-No-Li’ were together at Milan.

"It's economic nonsense that a club such as Milan might be eliminated in the first round. A European cup that lasts the whole season is what Europe wants."

The football brain that made Boban's name in Milan was flawless. 

The failure to ever make an appearance under any Italian coach will remain a mystery.

The result felt like a milestone. They had planted their flag on the moon, and were here to stay. 

‘It was a political gamble and it came off. Thanks, not to the politicians, but to the twenty-two players who took part’.

 Milan is like a human being, a city of radical opposites, blurring each other out to find some balance. 

Part Brutal angles and exposed concrete undercarriage, part Modernist sweeping curves and cylinders, La Scala del Calcio (or San Siro) is a structure as complex and contradictory as life itself. 

Although he was living five centuries after Caravaggio and working in an entirely different medium, the principles that made the Baroque artist's work so enduring and enthralling are the same principles that made Ancelotti's midfield so exhilarating.

Just as the public loved Caravaggio, Mourinho was loved at Chelsea for winning their first league title in 50 years and adored at Inter for delivering the first European Cup since the era of Grande Inter. 

What made the rivalry between Nyers and Nordahl entertaining was their stark differences and some curious similarities.

The parallels between last season’s Premier League Champions and the 1983 Watford side are undeniable.

In a league noted for the miserly nature of its defences, especially during the heyday of catenaccio as espoused by the likes of Rocco and the Inter Milan sides of Helenio Herrera, the scoring exploits of Prati are worthy of praise.

‘’We found him rather cold. Everyone in the team tried, but he was quite cold.’’ 

Like many things it began with the Beatles.

Over 100 years later, the legacy of this butcher’s son from Nottingham lives on in one of the world’s biggest and most successful football teams.