Maradona, Simply Great (part two)
a record sum at the time. However his time in Barcelona proved not a good one but for many reasons which in all fairness were neither connected to him or his playing; one of them being a case of hepatitis and a broken leg, thanks to an Athletic Bilbao defender named Goikoetxea. Of course another reason perhaps might have been his relationship with Barcelona’s new coach Menotti; who Maradona had never seen eye to eye with specially after being excluded by him from the 78 World Cup team. In spite of this, Maradona did have his moments which included wining “La Liga”, “Spanish Super Cup” and “La Copa del Rey” in 83. La Copa del Rey coming against Real Madrid. All apart from the 34 goals he scored in two seasons with even many more assists.
Maradona however was not happy in Barcelona. On a personal note I can not see how any great player would be on a team that despite having had most of the note worthy players in history had not even managed to win the European cup (now a days referred to as the Champions League) even once. A transfer was made at the request of Maradona, which came at the end of the 83/84 sending him from “La Liga’s” Barcelona to Seria A’s “SSC Napoli” for another record sum of 6.9 million pounds.
I for my part will never forget a conversation I had while in Ecuador with Vito Munoz (one of the top local sports announcers in Guayaquil) who claimed in the presence of my Spanish brother-in-law as well as mine how Maradona had been cursed by first his greatness. First by having to play for Menotti; a trainer who got sentimental over his players to the point of not seeing them for what they were but what they had been. Second by having to play for a “bunch of clowns” like Barcelona (my brother-in-law being from Madrid and a Real fan did not object) to which I added and again by Menotti. Third by being forced to play for SSC Napoli; a team that was limited not only in the quality of their players but in the funds that might buy them, meaning Maradona would be a great player on a mediocre team.
In all this there was a glimmer of hope for Maradona and that was that he was on team which would adjust themselves to his style of play; something which neither Argentina or Barcelona had been willing to do. As for Argentina they were now being coached by Carlos Bilardo, who from the start build his national squad around Maradona. First by getting rid of those players who though useful in wining Argentina’s first title in 78 were now “over the hill” in what could be considered a purge. Passarella however was allowed to remain on the condition that he would accept that his captain’s ban would go over to Maradona, which he did with reluctance.
Eventually the world cup would return. To be played in Mexico and once again Maradona would be playing for Argentina but this time things were different. He would have a team designed to play around him with players who looked up to him unlike in 82 were he was put in to a team who had been playing for over 6 years as a unit. A team in which he simply was the odd man out. Second Maradona was now under the guidance of Bilardo; who in my opinion was simply a better coach than Menotti.
Argentina started the World Cup in the same group as Italy, Bulgaria and South Korea. South Korea was first and though the Koreans did play better than I would have originally given them credit for they were no real match for Argentina. The score showed more or less what transpired as Argentina won 3 to 1 with relative ease and comfort; while Maradona had basically a field day passing the ball off to his new teammates Valdano, Ruggeri and Burruchaga.
Where Argentina’s first game was of little concern to me his second game was not as now he was facing Italy, the nation of my ancestors. I however could see that Italy was rebuilding and were not going to be a factor in this world cup given the fact that many of those players who had been vital in winning the cup 4 years before were past their prime. It was basically a case of the next generation players; like Roberto Baggio being too young while players like Rossi simply being past his prime. This factor plus the fact that Italy had only managed a draw with Bulgaria told me not to expect too much from Italy however me always being an Italian supporter still cheered them on.
The game against Argentina however started well for Italy. Altobelli putting us in the lead through a well taken penalty (any penalty that scores is well taken) only to have Maradona, himself (this time not passing off) equalize after 34 minutes of play with a brilliantly struck ball after a well timed run. One to one was the score at half time and such would the game end with Bruno Conti cracking one off Argentina’s post in the second half which would have changed a lot had it gone in but such is football and life.
In Argentina’s next match