MILAN – All over the world people took notice for Javier Zanetti’s final
match at the San Siro. From every corner of the globe, fans were linking up by
way of the internet and social media with thousands of warm messages for Inter’s
legendary captain who made history with the Nerazzurri. All the fans and
football aficionados, whether they were ‘rivals’ or simply neutral, enthusiastically
followed the initiative created by Inter and the results were fantastic: a
global reaction of Interisti who wanted to send their heartfelt messages to
captain Pupi.

But most impressive of all was the strong presence of the #JZ4ever hashtag launched by the club at @Inter, which after only one hour was already the top Twitter trend in Italy, with hundreds of affectionate tweets. There was also strong trending throughout all of Europe, Indonesia, the UAE, Japan and South America.

There were over 10,100 images on Instagram that tagged @fcinterofficial and included #JZ4ever, and more than 14,000 likes for the photos from the evening at the San Siro. And on Facebook, after Inter asked their followers to change their profile pics to the one created for this special occasion, there were hundreds of thousands of Pupis commenting on and ‘liking’ the official page – a spectacular turnout.

The numbers were staggering, with more than 73,000 ‘likes’ for the cover photo of the captain being thrown into the air by his team-mates, and more than 50,000 for the shots from the pitch as he was saluted by Erick Thohir, Massimo Moratti and all of the club’s employees. Then there was the amazing amount of views the page received: over 8.5 million, meaning a surge of more than 190% compared to the previous week. There was also a rise in the number of followers on Twitter (more than 2,000 in a day) and on Instagram (5,000 in two days). At inter.it there were over 10,000 views for the articles on Zanetti’s fantastic final evening on the pitch of the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

In China, on the Weibo social media site, Inter fans took photos of themselves wearing the number 4 shirt, showing the strong passion for the blue and black on the other side of the globe. 

The editors of inter.it and the social media sites had to give up: it was impossible to choose. Better to simply recognise the fact that everyone was a winner when it came to Javier. And have another look at what the fans dedicated to him.

A global movement and a global love. Something special, all for the captain. #JZ4ever