It should not remotely surprise that no Serie A fixture since 1961 has produced a margin of victory greater than seven goals
It was after all in the Sixties when ‘Grande Inter’ perfected the art of ‘catenaccio’, a system that idealised clean sheets over adventure.
Featuring four defenders, all strictly playing man-for-man, plus a sweeper behind, it ensured that very few chances were conceded, and with I Nerazzurri going on to achieve enormous success, naturally the set-up was copied by others.
It wasn’t long before the Italian top-flight became known as a graveyard for strikers.
Of course, subsequently, we have marvelled at any number of fabulous, entertaining teams from the Peninsula, along with a decent volume of prolific forwards. But in the land where clean sheets remain of the utmost importance, the days of 9-1 hammerings are forever consigned to the distant past.
Torino 9-1 Atalanta (1942)
The magnificent Torino side that dominated domestically, and was so admired overseas, were on course to securing their first league title when they ruthlessly outclassed Le Dea.
Atalanta were no mugs, incidentally, finishing this campaign mid-table, and indeed they gained a reputation later in the decade for being the only side who could trouble Torino, beating them with a surprising regularity.
Here though, the sublime talents of Valentino Mazzola and Ezio Loik shone and when they shone brightest nobody in the world could touch them.
Inter Milan 9-1 Bari (1948)
Internazionale pushed the mighty Torino all the way this season, the great Dutch striker Faas Wilkes plundering a bucketful of goals, but on this occasion it was the powerful forward Amedeo Amadei who grabbed the headlines, scoring four, two in each half.
Known as the ‘Eighth King of Roma’ he remains to this day the youngest ever goal-scorer in Serie A, converting on his second outing for Inter in 1937, aged just 15.
AC Milan 9-1 Bari (1949)
Poor Bari. Fourteen months after being humiliated by one Milan giant they succumbed again on December 1949, this time to a club on the cusp of greatness.
From 1950 onwards, the Pensinsula belonged to I Rossoneri and more pertinently to its Gre-No-Li Swedish trio of Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl, and Nils Lindholm. A year earlier these legendary imports had led Sweden to Olympic gold.
This season, they greatly assisted in Milan firing 118 goals, a record that stood for decades. In the decade to follow, four Scudettos were won as Milan reigned supreme.
This then was a glimpse into the future, one that was draped in red and black.
Juventus 9-1 Inter Milan (1961)
Whenever these sides meet the Serie A betting can barely split them, and it would have been no different back in ’61.
With two months of the season to play, Juve topped the table but Inter still retained genuine title aspirations of their own. Only a couple of points separated the pair.
Which makes this nine-goal drubbing all the more remarkable, it pitting giant against giant, and one utterly out-classing the other.
The contest was as good as over just 17 minutes in when Omar Sivori bagged his third of the afternoon. Incredibly the Argentine would fire a second hat-trick in the second-half.
Elsewhere, the great Sandro Mazzola scored a consolation from the spot but by then Juventus were seven to the good and spying a 12th Scudetto.
Milan 9-0 Palermo (1951)
Milan’s famed Gre-No-Li trio were at it again in 1951, each of them getting on the scoresheet as Palermo were cruelly put to the sword.
Just three months away from confirming their first ever Serie A title, I Rossoneri were in a showboating mood this particular afternoon, exhibiting their technical brilliance at the expense of a Palermo side who spent this period yo-yoing between the top division and the second tier.
Inter Milan 9-0 Casale (1933)
Juventus largely dominated the Thirties, but Ambrosiana-Inter – as they were then known – were often knocking on the door, finishing runner-up three times before claiming a league title of their own in 1938.
Simply put, Juve may have had the better team but Inter had Giuseppe Meazza, a hat-trick hero here against Casale, and unquestionably one of the finest talents to ever grace a football pitch.
Scorer of an unsurpassed 284 goals for Inter, the legendary forward elevated his club to unchartered heights, via not only his prolific finishing but his presence and elegant style of play.
On the international stage he led the Azzurri to back-to-back World Cup triumphs.
At club level he was unplayable, orchestrating three Scudettos all told. The San Siro is named in his honour.
Torino 9-0 Casale (1932)
In the early years of the 20th century, Casale FBC were a major player on the Italian scene, standing shoulder to shoulder with Juventus, Torino, Milan and Genoa.
Alas, as professionalism creeped into the game, the Piedmont-based club faded away, this being their second-to-last ever season spent in the top-flight.
What intrigues about this result is that if online betting had existed pre-war there would not have been a clear favourite pre-match.
Casale were on their uppers for sure, but Torino too were in decline, a poor facsimile of the side that won honours a few seasons before, courtesy of their ‘Trio of Wonders’, a revered strike-force made up of Libonatti, Baloncieri, and Rossetti.
Unforgettable days lay ahead of course but this was a trouncing that would have raised many eyebrows at the time. All told it was a very good day at the office for Il Toro.
Roma 9-0 Cremonese (1929)
Both Luigi Ossoinak and Rodolfo Volk bagged hat-tricks as Roma ran amok at the Campo Testaccio, their newly-built all-wooden ground.
This was US Cremonese’s inaugural campaign in Sere A and what an introduction this was, finding themselves two down after 13 minutes and four down at the break.
Though Roma had to wait until 1942 before claiming their first league title this was an era that routinely saw them challenging near the top, blessed with such fabulous players as Volk, Fulvio Bernardini and captain Attilio Ferarris.
Torino 10-0 Alessandria (1948)
Il Grande Torino were mere weeks away from gaining a fifth consecutive Italian crown when they walloped an Alessandria side destined to return to Serie B.
They were also tragically one year away from having their collective genius wiped out in one atrocious disaster, as a plane carrying the Torino squad lost its bearings in fog and crashed into the Superga mountain.
It should never be forgotten just how astonishingly good they were. Arguably, they were the greatest.
*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Adobe*
