1971–72 Inter Milan season

Football Club Internazionale
1971–72 season
	Mauro Bellugi and Piet Keizer (right) playing the 1972 European Cup Final.
President	Ivanoe Fraizzoli
Manager	Giovanni Invernizzi
Stadium	San Siro
Serie A	5th
Coppa Italia	2nd round
European Cup	Runners-up
Top goalscorer	League: ; Roberto Boninsegna (22); All: ; Boninsegna (34)
Home colours	Away colours
	← 1970–71 1972–73 →

During the 1971–72 season Football Club Internazionale competed in Serie A, Coppa Italia and 1971–72 European Cup.

Summary

An ageing squad collapsed in League to the 5th position clinching a UEFA spot for the next year.

In European Cup the club after 4 years returned to the highest continental tournament. In eightfinals the team played against German side Borussia Mönchengladbach, the first leg of the series was a bizarre event. In the seventh minute the Germans score the first thanks to Jupp Heynckes. Twelve minutes later Forward Roberto Boninsegna scored the draw, however few minutes later Ulrik le Fevre made the 2–1.^[1]

At minute 29, Boninsegna on the field side was hit by a Coca-Cola can and felt down over the grass. The squad included head coach Invernizzi, asked the Dutch referee Jef Dorpmans the suspension of the match.^[2]^[3]

Invernizzi replaced Boninsegna, according to the Inter medical staff.^[4] The Dutch referee ordered the match to be played and in the next 60 minutes the Germans score 5 times thanks to the permisssivness by Inter;.^[5]

Few days later, UEFA annulled the match, rescheduling on 1 December 1971 at Berlin, a neutral venue. Finally, Inter advanced to the quarterfinals after a 4-2 won at San Siro, and a 0–0 score on the replay. The Neroazzurro clinched the 1972 European Cup Final only to be defeated by Johan Cruijff's Ajax with a 0–2 score.

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	GK	ITA	Ivano Bordon
—	GK	ITA	Lido Vieri
—	DF	ITA	Mauro Bellugi
—	DF	ITA	Tarcisio Burgnich
—	DF	ITA	Bernardino Fabbian
—	DF	ITA	Giacinto Facchetti
—	DF	ITA	Mario Giubertoni
—	DF	ITA	Graziano Bini
—	MF	ITA	Gianfranco Bedin
—	MF	ITA	Mario Bertini


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
—	MF	ITA	Mario Corso
—	MF	ITA	Mario Frustalupi
—	MF	ITA	Sandro Mazzola
—	MF	ITA	Gabriele Oriali
—	MF	ITA	Evert Skoglund
—	FW	ITA	Roberto Boninsegna
—	FW	BRA	Jair da Costa
—	FW	ITA	Sergio Pellizzaro
—	FW	ITA	Roberto Dioni
—	FW	ITA	Giampiero Ghio

Transfers

In
Pos.	Name	To	Type
DF	Graziano Bini
MF	Evert Skoglund
FW	Roberto Dioni
FW	Giampiero Ghio

Out
Pos.	Name	from	Type
DF	Giancarlo Cella	Piacenza
DF	Spartaco Landini	Palermo
DF	Oscar Righetti	Piacenza	loan
MF	Marco Achilli	Livorno
FW	Alberto Reif	Hellas Verona

Competitions

Serie A

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
3	Torino	30	17	8	5	39	25	+14	42	Qualification to UEFA Cup
4	Cagliari	30	15	9	6	39	23	+16	39
5	Internazionale	30	13	10	7	49	28	+21	36
6	Fiorentina	30	12	12	6	28	20	+8	36
7	Roma	30	13	9	8	37	31	+6	35

Source: Panini

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Ground	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A
Result	W	W	W	L	W	D	L	W	D	P	D	D	W	D	W	W	L	W	L	D	L	W	D	D	L	W	D	L	D	W	W
Position	1	1	1	2	1	2	5	2	3	5	5	7	3	4	3	3	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	7	6	6	6	7	6	5

Source: Competitive matches
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss; P = Postponed; = Leader, qualified to the 1972–73 European Cup; = 1972–73 UEFA Cup; = Relegation to 1972–73 Serie B

Matches

3 October 1971 1	Inter	2 – 0	Atalanta BC	Milano
	Mazzola 15' Boninsegna 89' (pen)			Stadium: San Siro Referee: Gialluisi

17 October 1971 2	Catanzaro	0 – 2	Inter	Catanzaro
			63' Bedin 80' Facchetti	Stadium: Stadio Militare Referee: Monti

24 October 1971 3	Inter	4 – 1	Hellas Verona	Milano
	S. Mazzola 44', 75' Bedin 59' Boninsegna 64'		77' Reif	Stadium: San Siro Referee: Pieroni (Roma)

31 October 1971 4	AS Roma	3 – 1	Inter	Roma
	La Rosa 11' Cappellini 36' Salvori 86'		48' Boninsegna	Stadium: Olimpico Referee: Angonese (Mestre)

7 November 1971 5	Inter	2 – 0	Torino	Milano
	Bertini 74' Boninsegna 76'			Stadium: San Siro Referee: Giunti (Arezzo)

14 November 1971 6	SSC Napoli	0 – 0	Inter	Napoli
				Stadium: Stadio San Paolo Referee: Lattanzi (Roma)

28 November 1971 7	Inter	2 – 3	Milan	Milano
	Ghio 18' Boninsegna 42'		2', 85' Bigon 30' Rivera	Stadium: San Siro Referee: Lo Bello

5 December 1971 8	Bologna	0 – 3	Inter	Bologna
			14' Facchetti 21', 31' Boninsegna	Stadium: Comunale Referee: Gonella

12 December 1971 9	Inter	0 – 0	Cagliari	Milano
				Stadium: San Siro Referee: Menegali

19 December 1971 10	Lanerossi Vicenza	suspd.	Inter	Vicenza
				Stadium: Romeo Menti Referee: Toselli
Note: Match suspended at 17' due to heavy fog with a 0-0 score.

26 December 1971 11	Fiorentina	0 – 0	Inter	Firenze
				Stadium: Comunale Referee: Monti

2 January 1972 12	Inter	0 – 0	Juventus	Milano
				Stadium: San Siro Referee: Lo Bello

6 January 1972 10	Lanerossi Vicenza	0 – 4	Inter	Vicenza
			60', 87' Boninsegna 63' Bertini 69' Mazzola	Stadium: Romeo Menti Referee: Toselli (Cormons)
Note: Match rescheduled from 19 December 1971

9 January 1972 13	Inter	4 – 4	Sampdoria	Milano
	Boninsegna 43' (pen), 56' (pen), 65' Corso 53'		34' Boni 62' Santin 74' Lippi 86' (pen) Suarez	Stadium: San Siro Referee: Lattanzi

16 January 1972 14	Mantova	1 – 6	Inter	Mantova
	Dell'Angelo 70'		16', 67' Boninsegna 55', 82' Bertini 60' Pellizzaro 87' Facchetti	Stadium: Danilo Martinelli Referee: Michelotti

23 January 1972 15	Inter	2 – 0	Varese	Milano
	Boninsegna 60' Mazzola 87'			Stadium: San Siro Referee: Branzoni (Pavia)

30 January 1972 16	Atalanta BC	1 – 0	Inter	Bergamo
	Moro 33'			Stadium: Comunale Referee: Serafino

6 January 1972 17	Inter	1 – 0	Catanzaro	Milano
	Mazzola 47'			Stadium: San Siro Referee: Giunti

13 February 1972 18	Hellas Verona	2 – 0	Inter	Verona
	Orazi 23' Mariani 78'			Stadium: Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi Referee: Pieroni (Roma)

20 February 1972 19	Inter	2 – 2	AS Roma	Milano
	Jair 4' Mazzola 56'		44', 82' La Rosa	Stadium: San Siro Referee: Angonese

27 February 1972 20	Torino	2 – 1	Inter	Torino
	P. Pulici 37' Mazzola 84' (o.g.)		60' Boninsegna	Stadium: Comunale Referee: Toselli

12 March 1972 21	Inter	2 – 0	SSC Napoli	Milano
	Panzanato 38' (o.g.) Giubertoni 89'			Stadium: San Siro Referee: Lo Bello

19 March 1972 22	Milan	1 – 1	Inter	Milano
	Benetti 53'		84' Boninsegna	Stadium: San Siro Referee: Angonese (Mestre)

26 March 1972 23	Inter	1 – 1	Bologna	Milano
	Corso 78'		48' Landini	Stadium: San Siro Referee: Giunti (Arezzo)

1 April 1972 24[27]	Cagliari	2 – 1	Inter	Cagliari
	Riva 31' Brugnera 75'		25' (pen) Boninsegna	Stadium: Sant'Elia Referee: Lo Bello (Siracusa)

9 April 1972 25	Inter	2 – 1	Lanerossi Vicenza	Milano
	Boninsegna 48' (pen) Facchetti 51'		63' (pen) Maraschi	Stadium: San Siro Referee: Trono

16 April 1972 26	Inter	1 – 1	Fiorentina	Milano
	Bedin 81'		30' De Sisti	Stadium: San Siro Referee: Francescon

23 April 1972 27	Juventus	3 – 0	Inter	Torino
	Causio 7', 27', 85'			Stadium: Comunale Referee: Pieroni

7 May 1972 28	Sampdoria	0 – 0	Inter	Genova
				Stadium: Luigi Ferraris Referee: Michelotti (Parma)

21 May 1972 29	Inter	2 – 0	Mantova	Milano
	Boninsegna 74', 79'			Stadium: San Siro Referee: Lattanzi

27 May 1972 30[27]	Varese	0 – 3	Inter	Varese
			27' Boninsegna 62' Pellizzaro 76' Frustalupi	Stadium: Franco Ossola Referee: Panzino (Catanzaro)

Coppa Italia

First round

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Internazionale	4	2	2	0	9	2	+7	6
2	Varese	4	2	2	0	4	1	+3	6
3	Como	4	2	1	1	4	2	+2	5
4	Brescia	4	1	1	2	4	4	0	3
5	Reggina	4	0	0	4	2	14	−12	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Matches

29 August 1971 1	Inter	6 – 0	Reggina	Milano
	Boninsegna 17', 56', 60', 84' Bertini 21' Jair 36'			Stadium: San Siro Referee: Menegali

5 September 1971 2	Varese	1 – 1	Inter	Varese
	Borghi 59'		11' Ghio	Stadium: Franco Ossola Referee: Michelotti

8 September 1971 3	Como	0 – 1	Inter	Como
			35' Boninsegna	Stadium: Giuseppe Sinigaglia Referee: Branzoni

19 September 1971 5	Inter	1 – 1	Brescia	Milano
	Facchetti 59'		38' Tedoldi	Stadium: San Siro Referee: Serafino

Second round

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	ACM	TOR	INT	JUV
1	Milan	6	4	2	0	7	3	+4	10	—	1–1	1–0	3–2
2	Torino	6	2	2	2	5	7	−2	6	0–0	—	1–0	2–1
3	Internazionale	6	2	0	4	7	6	+1	4	0–1	3–0	—	3–1
4	Juventus	6	2	0	4	8	11	−3	4	0–1	2–1	2–1	—

Source: historical-lineups.com

4 June 1972 1	Inter	3 – 1	Juventus	Milano
	Boninsegna 16', 89' Mazzola 72'		2' Anastasi	Stadium: San Siro Referee: Giunti

8 June 1972 2	Milan	1 – 0	Inter	Milano
	Sabadini 43'			Stadium: San Siro Referee: Gonella

11 June 1972 3	Inter	3 – 0	Torino	Milano
	Mazzola 40' Corso 44' Boninsegna 82'			Stadium: San Siro Referee: Lattanzi

25 June 1972 4	Juventus	2 – 1	Inter	Torino
	Novellini 47', 80'		88' Jair	Stadium: Comunale Referee: Barbaresco

28 June 1972 5	Inter	0 – 1	AC Milan	Milano
			28' Bigon	Stadium: San Siro Referee: Bernardis

1 July 1972 6	Torino	1 – 0	Inter	Torino
	Toschi 52' (pen)			Stadium: Comunale Referee: Monti

European Cup

Round of 32

15 September 1971 1	Inter	4 – 1	AEK Athens	Milano
21:00 (CEST)	Mazzola 20' Facchetti 35' Jair 44' Boninsegna 61' (pen)		15' Pomonis	Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 72,333 Referee: Loraux

29 September 1971 2	AEK Athens	3 – 2 (4 – 6 agg.)	Inter	Athens
21:00 (CEST)	Ventouris 29' Papaioannou 45' Nikolaidis 89'		17' (o.g.) Karafeskos 75' Boninsegna	Stadium: Nikos Goumas Stadium Attendance: 29,449 Referee: Bəhramov

Eightfinals

20 October 1971 1	Borussia Mönchengladbach	7 – 1	Inter Milan	Mönchengladbach
	Heynckes 7', 44' Le Fevre 21', 34' Netzer 42', 52' Sieloff 83' (pen.)	[1]	Boninsegna 20'	Stadium: Bökelbergstadion, Mönchengladbach Attendance: 27,500 Referee: Jef Dorpmans
Note: This game was annulled as Inter Forward Roberto Boninsegna was hit by a Coca-Cola can in the 29th minute.[2][3] The first leg game was replayed after the game that was originally scheduled to be second leg was played, thus the order of legs was switched.

3 November 1971 1	Inter	4 – 2	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Milano
21:15 CET	Bellugi 10' Boninsegna 13' Jair 57' Ghio 90'		38' le Fevre 89'’ Wittkamp	Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 60 000 Referee: Scheurer

1 December 1971 2	Borussia Mönchengladbach	0 – 0	Inter	Berlin
20:15 CET				Stadium: Olympiastadion Attendance: 86 000 Referee: Taylor

Quarterfinals

8 March 1972 1	Inter	1 – 0	Standard Liège	Milano
21:15 CET	Jair 80'			Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 54 000 Referee: Gugulovic

22 March 1972 2	Standard Liège	2 – 1	Inter	Liege
22:00 CET	Cvetler 51' Takač 84' (pen)		80' Mazzola	Stadium: Stade Maurice Dufrasne Attendance: 26 993 Referee: Hauss

Semifinals

5 April 1972 1	Inter	0 – 0	Celtic Glasgow	Milano
21:00 CEST				Stadium: San Siro Attendance: 69 836 Referee: Linemayr

19 April 1972 2	Celtic Glasgow	0 – 0 (a.e.t.) (4 – 5 p)	Inter	Glasgow
21:00 CEST				Stadium: Celtic Park Attendance: 75 124 Referee: Est Glöckner
	Penalties
	Deans (blocked) Craig Johnstone McCluskey Murdoch		Mazzola Facchetti Frustalupi Pellizzaro Jair
Note: During the shoot-out, teams had to take all five penalties even if they could no longer win (the shoot-out would otherwise have ended with a score of 5–3 as Inter went first).

Final

31 May 1972	Ajax	2 – 0	Inter	Rotterdam
20:30 CEST	Cruijff 47', 78'			Stadium: Feijenoord Stadion Attendance: 61 354 Referee: Héliès

Statistics

Players statistics

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Serie A		Coppa		European Cup
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
	GK	ITA	Lido Vieri	16	-15	16	-15
	DF	ITA	Mauro Bellugi	20	0	20	0
	DF	ITA	Tarcisio Burgnich	27	0	27	0
	DF	ITA	Mario Giubertoni	27	1	27	1
	DF	ITA	Giacinto Facchetti	27	4	27	4
	MF	ITA	Gabriele Oriali	20	0	20	0
	MF	ITA	Gianfranco Bedin	26	3	26	3
	MF	ITA	Mario Bertini	24	4	23+1	4
	MF	ITA	Mario Corso	29	2	29	2
	MF	ITA	Sandro Mazzola	28	7	28	7
	FW	ITA	Roberto Boninsegna	28	22	28	22
	GK	ITA	Ivano Bordon	16	-13	14+2	-13
	FW	BRA	Jair da Costa	17	1	17	1
	FW	ITA	Sergio Pellizzaro	15	2	11+4	2
	MF	ITA	Mario Frustalupi	20	1	9+11	1
	FW	ITA	Giampiero Ghio	9	1	6+3	1
	DF	ITA	Bernardino Fabbian	5	0	2+3	0
	DF	ITA	Graziano Bini	1	0	0+1	0
	MF	ITA	Evert Skoglund
	FW	ITA	Roberto Dioni

Source: http://calcio-seriea.net/presenze/1971/694/

References

^ Bruno Bernardi (21 October 1971). "Guilty by a "Coca- Cola" Can" (in Italian). La Stampa. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
^ Elio Trifari (12 April 2007). "Mazzola and the 1-7 of Inter: "I've got another can"". archiviostorico.gazzetta.it. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
^ Oliviero Beha (8 June 1984). "My days as club President". la Repubblica. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
^ Bruno Bernardi (21 October 1971). "The Referee will not change the final score" (in Italian). La Stampa. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
^ Bruno Panzera (22 October 1972). "A Match to Forget" (PDF). l'Unità. Retrieved 5 November 2023.

[1] Bruno Bernardi (21 October 1971). "Guilty by a "Coca- Cola" Can" (in Italian). La Stampa. Retrieved 5 January 2024.

[2] Elio Trifari (12 April 2007). "Mazzola and the 1-7 of Inter: "I've got another can"". archiviostorico.gazzetta.it. Retrieved 5 January 2024.

[3] Oliviero Beha (8 June 1984). "My days as club President". la Repubblica. Retrieved 27 April 2024.

[4] Bruno Bernardi (21 October 1971). "The Referee will not change the final score" (in Italian). La Stampa. Retrieved 5 January 2024.

[5] Bruno Panzera (22 October 1972). "A Match to Forget" (PDF). l'Unità. Retrieved 5 November 2023.

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