After they won the Prima Divisione 1929/30, led by the young and talented Giuseppe Meazza, A.S. Ambrosiana qualified for the first edition of the Mitropa Cup that had Italian teams. On that occasion, the nerazzurri team would face the Hungarian champions, Újpesti F.C. Meazza had an exceptional season, in addition to having his name mentioned among the best players in the world, even at a very young age. The Hungarians did not have good memories of Meazza, as he was the main name of the historic Hungarian defeat — 0:5 to Italy, in Budapest —, in the last match of the first edition of the Švehla Cup, which had taken place just a few months before.

Once again, the Hungarians lose in Budapest — and with another show by Meazza. The young Italian caused chaos in the opponent's defense, always knowing how to exploit mistakes and winning the defensive system with his impressive speed and technical capacity, mainly in shooting.


Bruno Roghi: I am inexpressibly happy. Because this victory meant much more to me than the Italian national team's victory over the Hungarians. In the national team match, the Italian forwards only exploited a weak moment of the Hungarian team with four goals in eight minutes, but here Ambrosiana gradually prevailed and really overpowered Újpest with their greater technical and tactical knowledge. Ambrosiana produced one of their best games in recent times and their great win was mainly thanks to Meazza, who I think is one of the best centre-forwards in Europe today.

Leopoldi Conti: I'm proud of my team because they all did their duty, they all fought with heart and soul, with honour. Among the good ones, the best was Meazza, whose skill was equal to that of the old Orth.

Árpád Weisz: Meazza is such a classy player that he can single-handedly decide the fate of a match, whether he plays for the national team or for a club team.

Frankenstein: The best Italian players were Meazza, who was an extra-class player, and the two full-backs.


Meazza's two individual goals were a worthwhile achievement, and there was also the fact that he was involved in the other two goals. Ambrosiana had an excellent advantage to play on Italian soil, many considered the Italian team to be in the next phase.

However, the second game showed something completely unexpected on the part of the Italians, as Újpest took a different stance from the first game. With the same score as Budapest, and with both of Ambrosiana's goals being scored by Meazza himself, Újpest got the exact score for a third game to be played. As much as Meazza was properly marked this time, he still showed his efficiency when he had more space. After all, he still managed to score two goals. He was the best player of his team's forward line, always an extremely classy player and quite dangerous when he receives the ball. This time, however, when things did not work out, he tried to fight with his hands and feet. Meazza's temper was not stabilized.

The tie-breaker was played on neutral ground — and it was a grueling match for both teams. Meazza scored a goal, so he was already scoring goals consecutively in that edition. Ambrosiana's highlight was the defense, only Meazza proved to be a dangerous forward for the opponent's defensive system.

Due to the committee's decision, the fourth match between the Italians and Hungarians would be played at the Arena Civica, therefore with a slight advantage for Ambrosiana. In addition to scoring two goals for his team, Meazza was a highlight of the match. Ambrosiana moved on to the next stage of the tournament.



MEAZZA VS. KÁĎA

Moving on to the next round, the first match was terrible for Ambrosiana and, especially, for Meazza. The Italian centre-forward was completely annulled by the already veteran Karel Pešek-Káďa. His attitudes on the field were being reflected from the first clashes against Újpest. On those occasions, Meazza was often getting into trouble with József Fogl. This time Meazza got into trouble with full-back Jaroslav Burgr and even the centre-forward Raymond Braine in the second half.


Káďa: The Italians played recklessly, some cruelly, what Čtyřoký, Braine and Bělik could talk about the most. The worst was the beloved barier centre-forward Meazza, who kicked Burger in the leg after the match when going to the cabins.

MATCH REPORT: The Bohemian centre-half gave the impression that by now he was feeling the weight of the years. But experience or, with it, the tricks of the trade are worth something, and yesterday Káďa immobilized Meazza. Indeed, it was precisely the first quarrels between Meazza and Káďa that caused nervousness and electricity among the players. Meazza, impressed and more nervous than usual, often watched even by two or three opponents, did very little for the rest of the match:


In the center of the half-back line, Káďa remained the head of the team, completely preventing the actions of the Italian centre-forward. Meazza didn't hit the right ball. Káďa marked Meazza with a tenacity and a clear-cut bias.

Meazza's performance in the second match mirrored exactly what his performance in the first match was like. Meazza didn't show up — and largely because of yet another exceptional performance by Káďa. The Czechoslovakia centre-half performed as if he were at his peak, so there was nothing for Meazza to do against the exceptional Káďa. He made Meazza completely harmless.



The tournament was over for Meazza, he produced a series of excellent performances against Újpest, most notably in the first match in Budapest, which gave the impression that Meazza would be, as in Prima Divisione, an unstoppable force. He, however, was unable to repeat the level of performance of the first match. Already in the next round, Meazza found a strong defensive system that was in charge — and mainly responsible for marking the Italian — Karel Pešek-Káďa.

The clashes between Káďa and Meazza were interesting. Clearly Meazza had a certain amount of respect for him, largely because of his on-pitch figure and prominence. As much as Káďa was a veteran and was far from Meazza's speed, his intuition, tactical knowledge and quality of tackling and interception were enough to nullify Il Balilla Meazza in both matches.

In terms of his image as a player, Meazza left a bad impression in Budapest, Prague and Bern due to his unsportsmanlike conduct.

Giuseppe Meazza finished the tournament as the top scorer — 7 goals in 6 matches. All goals were scored against Újpest.