Ivan Zamorano is Chile’s third-highest goalscorer of all time. He won trophies with both Real Madrid and Inter and was a key part of the only Cobresal team to claim the Copa Chile title before that. But the trophies he lifted and the goals he scored only tell half the story.
To truly understand the greatness of Zamorano, you simply had to watch him play.
The history books will remember him kindly, but the statistics alone don’t do him justice. They can’t explain the passion, the desire and the incredible determination he showed every time he took to the pitch. Even his nicknames, Bam Bam and Ivan el Terrible, can only hint at his character.
Just look at the reception Zamorano was given by Inter’s supporters after his retirement in 2003.
Forty-one goals in one hundred and forty-nine games may not sound like the record of a legend, but this was a player that understood what it meant to be an Interista. This was a love story.
Gigi Simoni, Zamorano’s coach at Inter for a year, described him as “the soul of that team”.
“I still remember how Zamorano incited the team before going on the pitch,” Simoni told us exclusively. “Every match was like a war for him, but it was not only a matter of determination, because he was a very good player too.”
Zamorano managed only 20 appearances and four goals in Simoni’s one full season in charge, 1997-98, mainly owing to injury, but he was always far more than just a goalscorer.
He was the dream strike partner, attracting defenders and freeing up space for team-mates. Ronaldo scored 34 goals that season, many of them with Zamorano alongside him.
As for the Chilean’s four goals, he saved the most memorable until last, opening the scoring in the UEFA Cup final against Lazio, which Inter won 3-0.
Zamorano and Ronaldo dovetailed brilliantly that season, but Roberto Baggio signed in the summer of ’98 and insisted on taking the Brazilian’s No.10 shirt, with Ronaldo duly handed Zamorano’s No.9.
Bam Bam had a rather unique solution to that problem. He had successfully fought for everything else he had wanted in life – it should have come as no surprise that he found a way to get what he wanted this time.
Well, sort of. He decided to take the No.18 shirt, adding a + sign between the two numbers. This was a man who knew what it meant and what it took to be a No.9.
As well as Ronaldo and Baggio, Zamorano also had to…
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