Career
Mazzola's career with Venezia started modestly, with a tenth-placed finish in 1940 and a twelfth-place finish the next season. In 1941, however, the team won the Coppa Italia Final against Roma and finished third in the league in 1942.
Mazzola then made his debut for the national side on April 5, 1942, when he scored a goal.
As they finished third in the league, Venezia were only a single point behind Torino, who promptly began to take notice of Mazzola. The only problem was that Juventus had a verbal agreement with Venezia that they would sign Mazzola. However, Torino eventually offered two hundred thousand lira plus two players and won the player's signature.
Although the deal was intended to be kept secret, news of the upcoming move got out and as Venezia played Torino, the crowd began to taunt Mazzola, calling him a "sell-out". The outraged Mazzola clenched his fists and promptly led Venezia to a 3-1 win.
With Torino, Mazzola won the wartime league title in 1943. In 1944, the championship ended early, but Mazzola managed to score 10 goals (in context, however, Silvio Piola scored 31).
In 1946, Mazzola helped the team to the title, which they won over Inter Milan by 13 points. The next season, Torino won the title again, beating second-placed Juventus by 10 points. In 1948, Torino broke numerous records, including ending the season with the biggest ever advantage over the second-placed team (they beat Milan to the title by 16 points) and on May 11, 1947, Torino provided 10 of the 11 players who took to the field against Hungary. Mazzola played 12 matches with the Italian National Team and scored 4 goals.
In the 1948-49 season, Torino won the last title they would get until 1976. Mazzola scored 109 goals in the Italian Championship with Venezia and Torino over 8 years.
Read more about this topic: Valentino Mazzola
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