WHEN ALVARO RECOBA was good, he was very, very good.
The Uruguayan playmaker spent eleven years at Inter Milan in total between 1997 and 2008 and he conjured a litany of golden moments with that magnificent left-foot of his.
He memorably made his debut on the same day as Ronaldo and completely overshadowed the Brazilian superstar’s arrival by entering the fray as a substitute and scoring two sensational strikes to ensure victory against Brescia.
It was always going to be tough to deal with the inevitable expectation after that and Recoba always seemed to struggle for consistency with the Nerrazzurri and a battle with persistent injuries hardly helped him.
Still, he was a set-piece specialist and with him on the pitch, a spectacular goal was always a possibility. His propensity for performing magic ensured that Recoba was club president Massimo Moratti’s favourite player while at the San Siro.
He left Italy in 2008 and eventually returned to his native country where he was still impressing for Nacional (where he had been before signing for Inter in 1997) until last year and won two championships in his four seasons there.
A tribute match takes place for the 40-year-old in Montevideo tonight with the likes of Javier Zanetti and Francesco Toldo also featuring.
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