The coffin of the Spanish legend Luis Suárez, who died on Sunday at the age of 88, was received this Tuesday with applause by dozens of admirers at his funeral in a church in the northern Italian city of Milan, where he lived until his death.
The coffin, carried on the shoulders of four people, arrived this afternoon at the church of San José de Calasanz, in the Milanese neighborhood of San Siro, the same stadium where he played for years. And he was received by dozens of fans gathered at the gates of the temple despite the heat.
Some flowers and a Neroazzurra shirt of his, that of Inter Milan, were placed on the box, the team he joined in 1961 and in which he played as a player for a decade, contributing to the myth of this Italian club in those years. The funeral was attended by some well-known faces from interista history, such as its former president Massimo Moratti or the one who was his dressing room partner at “Grande Inter” Gianfranco Bedin, according to local media reports.
Barça, the other team where the Galician triumphed, before leaving for Milan, was represented by the club’s vice president, Rafa Yuste, and the president of the Players Association, Juan Manuel Asensi.
The former Spanish player Emilio Butragueño, current director of Institutional Relations for Real Madrid, also attended. Serie A, the Italian First Division, was represented by the head of Competitions, Andrea Butti. Among numerous wreaths, there were those from Barça, Real Madrid, Inter Milan or Deportivo de La Coruña, where Suárez made his debut in 1953 and to which he returned as coach almost three decades later.
Suárez (La Coruña, 1935) was one of the most outstanding players of the sixties and was the first Spaniard to win the Ballon d’Or, in 1960, a feat that would not be repeated until Alexia Putellas won two golden spheres in 2021 and 2022. But above all he contributed to the legend of the “Grande Inter” of Milan, to which he arrived at the will of the coach Helenio Herrera after serving in Deportivo de La Coruña and Barcelona.
In the decade that the ’10’ spent as a “neroazzurro” he won three “Scudetti” (league titles), two Champions Cups and two Intercontinentals. Inter have remembered him as a legend and as one of the biggest “stars” in their centenary history.
After hanging up his boots and a coaching career in Spain and Italy, Suárez made Milan his city, where he lived with his last wife, Valentina, who died three years ago, while his son lives in Madrid and is a biologist.
