The top 10 greatest Inter Milan legends of all time ranked

Inter Milan legends have set the pace for world football. The Italian giants have won Serie A 18 times, the Coppa Italia seven times, the UEFA Cup three times and the Champions League three times. Moreover, they recently completed an unprecedented feat for an Italian side: a Treble of the Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the Europa final.

Many world-class players have pulled on the black and blue stripes throughout that illustrious history. Here is a list of Inter Milan legends. These are only the top 10 Inter Milan legends of all time

10. Sandro Mazzola

Mazzola is fourth on Inter's all-time goals list, and no forward has played more games for the Nerazzurri. He ended his career with four scudetto, two consecutive European Cups and two Intercontinental titles.

For his 17-year career, he scored 160 times in all competitions for Inter and was the joint top scorer in 1964-65. Internationally he scored 22 more goals in 70 international caps.

He highlighted his international career with a victory in the 1968 European Championship. Two years later, he reached the World Cup final against Pele's Brazil, falling 4-1 at the Azteca in Mexico City.

9. Esteban Cambiasso

The bald Argentine is unlikely to win any accolades for playing exquisite soccer. Still, he was an integral element of the Inter that dominated Italian soccer in the early twentieth century.

Cambiasso, arguably the most outstanding midfielder to ever wear the blue and black, has never been flamboyant. Still, his comprehension of the game and ability to anchor the defensive midfield and initiate attacks from deep are impossible to duplicate.

Now 32, Cambiasso has appeared 371 times for the club, and as time has gone on, he has gone from being solely a bruiser to a force in the attack, scoring 45 goals for the team. He is one of Inter Milan's legendary players.

8. Christian Vieri

Christian Vieri, a bit of a nomad, remained at the club longer than anyone else, and boy was he prolific when he was there. Vieri scored 123 goals in 190 matches for the Nerazzurri in all competitions, a strike rate of 0.65 goals per game over his six years with the club.

Vieri was signed by Massimo Moratti for a then-record fee of 32 million British pounds and finished the 2002-03 season as Inter's top scorer with 24 goals in 23 games and three goals in the club's Champions League campaign that year.

A pure centre forward, Vieri holds the somewhat obscure record of scoring the most headed goals in the history of Serie A. He is considered one of the biggest Inter Milan legends of his generation. Vieri has been one of the best Inter Milan players since 2000.

7. Julio Cesar

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Julio Cesar defended the club’s goal during most of the club's successful spell. He was their for five consecutive Serie A titles from 2005-06 to 2009-10, three Coppa Italia trophies, the Club World Cup, and the crown jewel of Inter's 2010 Treble: the Champions League.

That 2009-10 Champions League campaign is the Brazilian's crowning achievement. He conceded just three goals throughout the knockout stage, including two against defending champion Barcelona in the semifinal's two legs.

He would eventually appear in 300 matches for Inter and take home a medal haul rivalled only by Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti. He is one of the best Inter Milan legends. He is one of Inter Milan's legends on FIFA 22.

6. Mario Corso

Mario Corso scored 94 goals for Inter over his 17-year career. By trade, he is a left-winger; he ranks sixth all-time in appearances with 502. During his tenure at the San Siro, he earned the nickname "God's Left Foot" for possessing one of the best left-footed shots in the game.

He had a reputation for disappearing for long stretches before making one move to win Inter the match.

Corso played for Genoa for two years following his tenure with Inter. Then, in 1986, he briefly took over as manager of his former squad and coached various other teams. Mario is one of Inter Milan's football legends.

5. Tarcisio Burgnich

Burch was the bulldog of La Grande Inter, a right-back/sweeper perfectly suited to Helenio Herrera's catenaccio style of play. He would be it if Gennaro Gattuso ever modelled his aggressive game after someone.

Burgnich, who finished eighth on the club’s appearance list with 467, bounced around numerous Italian teams until finding a home at the San Siro, where he spent the following 12 years before finishing his career with four years at Napoli.

Internationally, Burgnich gained 66 caps for Italy. The second is notable: it brought Italy level with West Germany at 2-2 in extra time of the 1970 World Cup semifinal. Italy eventually won 4-3 in the match dubbed the Game of the Century. Tarcisio is one of Inter Milan's legendary defenders.

4. Zlatan Ibrahimović

After jumping ship at Juventus following the club's relegation due to the calciopoli scandal, Ibrahimović followed fellow Juve want-away, Patrick Vieira, to Inter and became an integral part of the club’s following three championship teams.

He finished as Inter's top scorer in his first league season, and the Nerazzurri set a new Serie A record with 97 points on route to winning the title. Inter won 17 consecutive matches that year, a record for the Big Five European leagues (Italy, Spain, France, England and Germany).

Ibrahimovic led the squad to three scudetti and scored 66 goals in 116 appearances across all competitions, with more than one goal every two matches. He finished his final season with the Nerazzurri by winning the title with 25 goals before being traded to Barcelona for Eto'o.

For all of Ibra's excellence with the team, he could not get the team to the promised land in Europe—a failing that still nags at him to this day after stops at Barca, AC Milan and his current club Paris Saint-Germain. Nevertheless, he remains one of the Inter Milan legendary strikers.

3. Jair

The Brazilian completed Helenio Herrera's catenaccio onslaught. He was the nimble winger who facilitated the strategy's counterattacks. Jair scored the lone goal in the 1967 European Cup final against Benfica, giving the Nerazzurri their second consecutive continental title.

La Grande Inter's collapse paralleled his brief leave from the team in 1967-68 when he spent a single season at Roma. He returned to San Siro the following year but scored just 14 goals in four years and ultimately returned to his native Brazil to play for Santos.

2. Samuel Eto'o

Although Samuel Eto'o's stint with the Nerazzurri was brief, he was a productive performer. He scored 53 goals in 101 outings across all competitions during his two seasons at Inter following his move from Barcelona—more than a goal every two games.

He assisted Inter in winning the Treble in 2010 and then played a pivotal role in keeping Inter in the Champions League in the Round 16, spearheading a remarkable comeback against Bayern Munich in the away leg.

Eto'o's sale following the 2010-11 season was highly ill-advised. Who knows what would have happened if the Cameroonian striker had stayed at Inter rather than leaving for Russia. He is one of the most famous Inter Milan legends.

1. Luigi Cevenini

Cevenini is Inter's all-time leading scorer, and when the facts are crunched, it's clear to understand why. Cevenini scored 158 goals in 190 matches throughout three stints with Inter.

We’ll let you look at that number for a minute. And to make that stat sink in a little, that's 0.83 goals per game average.

In his first two stints with the Nerazzurri, Cevenini had more goals scored than games played. His third, extended stint produced a less eye-popping number, but he scored 42 times in 92 games.

He won a single title with Inter in the pre-Serie A era (1919-20), and oddly, he performed significantly better with Inter than with any other team. He scored freely for Juventus, Messina, and Milan, but his most outrageous stats came while he was on Milan's blue side.

Inter Milan legends are very many, but we used overall success and achievements at the club to develop the very best ten. These legends have all left an indelible mark in football history.

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