The Nerazzurri shirt sewn on

He never worked with Julio Cesar, although he was the man to discover him and bring him to Italy. During his stint with the Nerazzurri, he also enjoyed two brief spells as head coach. Following the sacking of Roy Hodgson, he managed the final two Serie A matches in 1997, while he also took charge of four games in 1999 after Lucescu was dismissed. His final role was that of scout for the Nerazzurri and he discovered a number of top goalkeepers for the club. The latest was Ionut Radu, who is now 20-years-old playing for Avellino and is hotly-tipped to be a future No.1 for Inter. The Jaguar was never able to wear the Inter shirt he loved so much, however he did always feel it upon him.

Even before he began as a professional, he spent his youth career with a team called Inter and was vice-president of the Inter Club in Menaggio (Como), which was the the village where he grew up. Following this, he then took the important step into his serious footballing career. He spent eight years with Torino, where he won one Scudetto, one Coppa Italia and also earned the nickname ‘Jaguar’. He then moved to Napoli where he spent seven seasons. Only after his retirement did Castellini finally link up with Inter. He became first team goalkeeping coach back in 1988, helping teach shot-stoppers who eventually went on to make history, including, Zenga, Pagliuca, Toldo and Frey.

“I feel the Nerazzurri shirt sewn upon me”. This sentence sums it all up and he is just one of the few people who can say it, although he is certainly the only one who can do so without having ever donned the shirt itself.
Luciano Castellini was one of the strongest Italian goalkeepers in history and played 400 matches in Serie A, however he only ever played against Inter as an opponent. Despite this, he did have Inter in his DNA and was undoubtedly a die-hard fan of the ‘Beneamata’.