Looking at the photo by Massimo Moratti, we see a cheerful, smiling man, a typical native of sunny Italy. The fourth son of an oil tycoon, born a week after the end of World War II, he became the best president in the history of the Milan football club Internazionale.
The origins
His father, Angelo Moratti, made great strides in business by founding the largest oil corporation on the island of Sardinia. And he, like any true Italian, was crazy about football (and his fiery passion was passed on to his son), so in 1955, he almost without hesitation acquired a controlling stake in Inter, a club he had been rooting for since childhood. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed, but it must be thought that it was considerable, because āNerazzurriā (āblack and blueā is the name of the team her fans) had won the Italian championship for two years in a row.
Under Angelo, Inter survived its first Golden Era. Under the leadership of the great Argentine coach Elenio Herrera, he became the first three times in the national championship, and in 1964 and 1965 the club won the main trophy of European football - the UEFA Champions Cup.
All this happened in front of the young Massimo Moratti. It was at this time that the Milan club became his vocation, and later, as we will see, a part of his life.
The president
When Angelo sold his club shares in 1968, he was unlikely to think that someday his fourth son would follow in his footsteps and as president of the Internationale would again raise the team to the heights of fame.
But that is exactly what happened. In 1995, Massimo Moratti became the owner of this club. Success did not come right away, although he spent several hundred million euros on the purchase of expensive footballers. For ten years, Inter won nothing in the domestic arena, except for one cup of the country, in Europe the UEFA Cup was won in 1998, which was obviously unacceptable for a club with such ambitions and star cast.
It even got to the point that, according to the requirements of the fans, Massimo formally ceded the presidency to the great player in the past, who shone as part of the ānerazzurriā during Herreraās time, Giacinto Faketti. But a year and a half later, he died of cancer, and Massimo Moratti again returned to his duties as president.
This time everything turned out better nowhere. Javier Sanetti, Esteban Cambiasso, Julio Cesar, Marco Materazzi, Samuel Eto'o, Wesley Sneijder and other great players provided the team with undisputed superiority in the championship of Italy. In general, with Massimo Moratti, the statistics of āInterā are impressive: five consecutive championships of the country, four cups and the same number of super cups, but most importantly - in 2010, after 45 years, the club again became the strongest in Europe, having won the Munich in the UEFA Champions League final Bavaria. " A little later, the team won the club world championship. Now the fans were ready to carry their president in their arms!
But nothing, as they say, lasts forever. Massimo's plans to inherit the club from his son were not destined to come true. In 2013, an Indonesian businessman Eric Tohir made him an offer to buy Inter, which Moratti could not refuse ...
Life after the Presidency
Massimo Moratti has a large family: a loving spouse, five children and many grandchildren. He devotes his main time to the care of them and the family business. But when his beloved team plays, he forgets about things, comes to the stadium and cheers for her, forgetting everything, as once in his youth ...