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The first presentation of Diego Armando Maradona on Chilean soil was the March 11, 1980, when Argentinos Juniors brought their jewel to play a friendly against Colo Colo by Carlos Caszely at the National Stadium.
It was a 3-2 Alba victory, but the game did not end, since Víctor Ojeda’s bad refereeing generated a fuss and the public invaded the field in search of some memory of young Diego, who was 19 years old and already had a reputation for world level.
The Argentine star, who died this Wednesday, did not have a good time. A strong infraction by Leonel Herrera ended with El Pelusa injured and attended at the Central Post Office, the most important emergency hospital in the country. A scene that the strong defender remembers in detail in conversation with Redgol.
“It was not so bad. It was also a joke in bad taste. There were several players who we threw fierces, not just Diego. But we couldn’t get hold of it. When I injured him there were four or five minutes left and he went along the shore, south arch, right side, I left his foot a little higher and unfortunately I injured him “, recalls the Copa Libertadores runner-up in 1973.
“There was very little left and I do not regret it either, because they are football things. They did not even show me a yellow card. Then it was not seen as a tremendous foul, disqualifying, as to be punished,” says Herrera.
According to the former Chilean World Cup player, the fact that Maradona was taken to the Central Post was due to his crack label: “It was because of what he meant, because of what the figure was. But it was too much to take him to the Central Post, because In the long run it didn’t take long, he recovered quickly and was playing again. It wasn’t a very worrisome injury. “
“The stadium was full, impressive. Inside the field you couldn’t walk when they opened the doors, because all the people got in to hug him, to greet him, to take pictures with him. It was even so much that we too were interested in take a photo and it was not possible because of the crowd that was inside the field. And that was normal because of the scrolls that he brought, which could be, “recalls the former soccer player.
Two men on Maradona’s dial
Herrera remembers that night at Nacional: “I had the great opportunity to face him and play against him, he was a player who had all the conditions and at that time, when he had just appeared in football, you could already tell that he was going to be a crack. world-class. “
“We did a mixed marking due to his antecedents. He had to be marked in a staggered manner, an individual marking and another (defense) a little further back just in case,” he assures 40 years of that night.
Leonel Herrera and Rafael González were Colo Colo’s fierce defense for almost a decade. Photo: Stadium Magazine
“But with the ability and speed he had, he took one or two players off of him without any problem. I said he had a hand on his foot, how he moved it to any side, it was the most difficult thing to be able to mark it” , recalls the former defender, nicknamed in his years as Legs with Blood.
Finally, Herrera reveals the critical vision he has about the death of Maradona. “His death is unfortunate, but he also asked for it. We don’t have to rule out how spectacular he was as a footballer, but as a person I think he left much to be desired as well,” he completes.
