Inter Milan’s attacking corps at the end of the 1990s were something to behold.
The likes of Ivan Zamorano, Nwankwo Kanu, Roberto Baggio, Nicola Ventola, Adrian Mutu and Alvaro Recoba all enjoyed stints at the San Siro in the run-up to the millennium, but the two biggest names on the books at that time were Christian Vieri and Ronaldo.
Vieri moved to Inter for a world record transfer fee of £32million in 1999, joining the Brazil legend Ronaldo, who had arrived from Barcelona in 1997, also for a then-world record fee of £13.2million and was ranked at no.6 in FourFourTwo’s list of the greatest players of all-time.
You may like
Vieri on his Ronaldo partnership
While injuries to the Brazilian meant the pair were only able to share the pitch 11 times, it is clear that O Fenômeno had a significant impact on Vieri.
“Ronaldo,” is the Italian’s answer when asked by FourFourTwo who his best-ever team-mate was. “He’s from another planet, like a gift from God. When he was born, God said, “My friend, you’re going to become the best ever.” In the history of football, there have been two or three of them. He’s touched by God – I genuinely think that.
“He was huge, with legs like a giant. He could compete in the 100m. He was incredibly quick, which you could see with his awesome stepovers, and he had unbelievable technique. I have videos about five minutes long where he’s just nutmegging everyone in games. If he hadn’t got injured, he would have gone to such great heights. You couldn’t stop him – he was too good for everyone. I’ve never seen anyone like him.”
But where does Vieri rank his Ronaldo strike partnership when it comes to the greatest in football history?
“When I joined Inter, I remember being in the dressing room as Ronaldo came in,” he continues. “I stood up, went to him and said, “I came here to play with you.” Sadly, we didn’t get to play much together.
“Pretty soon after I arrived, he hurt his knee and was out of action for almost two years. It was a bad rupture of the tendon – very complicated. When he came home after his surgery, I went to his house. I was in his room while he was doing ice and he said, “Bobo, this time I hurt my leg really badly.” We didn’t know if he would play again.
“After three or four months he was running, but sometimes you’d see a piece of metal coming out of his knee. I was like, ‘What the f**k is that?!’ We had to wait more than one and a half years, and that’s a long time. It hurt us a lot. In one of the first matches after his return, at Brescia, I helped him to score by setting him up in front of goal with a one-two. We won 3-1 and I also got two goals.
“Two weeks later, we won 3-2 at Piacenza and I scored another brace – one of them, a penalty. I gave the ball to him, because normally he took the penalties. He said, “No no, Bobo, you take it because you have to win the top goalscorer award this year.” He gave me the ball and I scored. I was very grateful. We had a really good relationship, like best friends. We’d go out to restaurants in Milan. As we went in, all of the people would get up and applaud. I thought, ‘What the f**k. Are we The Beatles here?!’ It was crazy.”
