Italian football pays tribute to Giovanni Lodetti, "architect of Azzurri history"

Italian football is mourning Giovanni Lodetti, a two-time European Cup winner with AC Milan and a member of Italy's triumphant UEFA EURO 1968 team, who has died at the age of 81.

"Whoever wears the Azzurri shirt with pride like Lodetti will never be forgotten," said Italian Football Federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina, describing the defensive midfielder as "one of the architects of our national team's history".

Capped 17 times, Lodetti's finest moment in an Italian jersey came in 1968, when he helped the Azzurri secure their first ever European Championship on home soil, triumphing against Yugoslavia in a replayed final at Rome's Stadio Olimpico.

Rossoneri

Signed up to Milan's youth team aged 15, Lodetti spent the majority of his club career with the Rossoneri, playing a key role in an unprecedented period of domestic and international success.

In 288 appearances from 1961 to 1970, Lodetti won two Serie A titles, an Italian Cup, the 1967/68 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and two European Cups – with victories against Benfica at Wembley in 1963, a game in which he did not feature, and then six years later against Ajax at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. He also earned an Intercontinental Cup winners' medal in 1969 after Milan defeated Copa Libertadores champions Estudiantes de La Plata over two legs.

Infinite love

After Lodetti's death was announced on Friday, Milan tweeted: "An infinite love for Milan, for all his team-mates, and for his Rossoneri friends. He ran and fought, he won and lived with the jersey of his life."

Whether playing for Milan or Italy, Lodetti's hard-running work rate and uncanny ability to read a game provided a perfect complement to some of Serie A's football's most celebrated playmakers and forwards. They included Gianni Rivera, José Altafini, Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, Giovanni Trapattoni and Angelo Sormani. He also had an eye for goal, finding the net 26 times for the Rossoneri.

Lodetti retired from football in 1978 after appearing for Sampdoria, Foggia and Novara in his final seasons.