“You face a man who has returned from hell” – Corriere.it

The Argentina that reached the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 was very strong: Messi, Agüero, Tevez, Milito, Di María, the young Higuaín. Between the Albiceleste and the victory there was only one obstacle: the craziest coach in the world; Diego Armando Maradona. In the first training session, at the beginning of qualifications, he gave the boys a sober speech: “They are facing a man who has returned from hell. I have shown that everything is possible in life. Then he took them to play at 3,000 meters in La Paz directly from sea level: 6 to 1 for Bolivia. For a friendly match against Jamaica, he called up five injured players. In two years he called a hundred footballers. Workouts always in the afternoon and at night; in the morning he slept.

Messi’s father complained: ‘My son does not receive tactical instructions; Diego only tells him to play well and score goals ». Alarmed, Federal President Grondona joined Bilardo, a champion coach in 1986, who had always had a good relationship with Maradona. They got into an immediate fight. Fights followed by public reconciliations: every time Diego was crying. He put under a cameraman with the car. He found time to open a football school in India, where he was received like a saint. He was always on a diet, in fact as a coach he ended up in the hospital only once, not for cocaine or alcohol but for the bite of his girlfriend Veronica’s dog. He solemnly promised not to shoot journalists again, as he had done in 1994 in front of the country house (4 wounded).

But after his qualification in Uruguay, he invited his critics to give him an oral intercourse: “Fuck it!” -: two months of disqualification. The dreaded daughters carried out a press review every morning, with orders to signal fans to fix. As soon as he reached the world retreat, he had the bathrooms in the bedrooms remodeled; for himself he ordered the 3-speed bidet with modulated spray and pistachio ice cream at 4 in the morning. He arrived at the press conference dressed for First Communion – a light tie and a gray jacket barely closed over his abnormal belly – but with a white rear end and three corsair earrings. After the goals, he invaded the field to hug the players. In the quarterfinals against Germany he lined up all his forwards, with Messi in the center of the field; the Germans scored 4 goals (to 0) on the counterattack. However, it is still an unforgettable Argentina. The difference in charisma between the technician and his ace was evident: the real number 10 was him, Maradona. At the end of the training the teacher took the student aside: “Leo, now I will teach you to fight against punishment.” The fact is that since then Messi has made very few mistakes.