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BARCELONA: The difference between Diego Maradona’s difficult time in Barcelona and Lionel Messi’s triumphant reign at the club is largely due to luck, said the man who helped bring the two Argentines to the Camp Nou.
“They are two very similar players. They are two number 10. That is a historically highly valued position in Argentina,” said José María Minguella. “Number 10 is the creator of the game, the one who picks up the ball and somehow creates danger.”
Minguella has been involved with Barcelona since the early 1970s and helped organize the deals to secure not only the two Argentine stars, but also a host of other players, including international stars like Romario and Hristo Stoichkov.
After a long courtship, he brought 21-year-old Maradona to Barcelona for a world record fee of $ 7.6 million in 1982. He was also involved in the deal that brought Messi to the club at the age of 13.
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Remembering Maradona, who died on Wednesday at the age of 60, Minguella told AFP: “Diego had bad luck.”
Maradona played for Barcelona from 1982 to 1984, but his first season was cut short by hepatitis and in the second, Athletic Bilbao defender Andoni Goikoetxea broke Maradona’s left ankle.
When the two clubs met in the cup final at the end of the season, Maradona started a brawl that earned him a three-month Spanish ban. Then he moved to Napoli, where he was worshiped.
“He was only there for two years, a serious injury and illness deprived him of his explosiveness,” Minguella said. “The explosion occurred in Naples.”
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Messi’s experience has been much happier.
“Leo has been a benchmark for Barça football,” said Minguella. “He has shaped an era, he has won titles, he has broken records of all kinds.”
“We could say that Leo has been the most successful in terms of trophies, but when it comes to players, I don’t notice big differences between one and the other,” said Minguella. “They are on the left side, of a similar height and the only contrast is that they were played at different times.
“In Maradona’s time, the referees were much more permissive, all teams had their warriors in the center of the field and in defense, who in one way or another, would deprive rivals of the opportunity to show their skills,” he recalls Minguella.
‘THE POWER OF THE BEST PLAYERS’
“And then there was also the state of the ball, the quality of the boots, the playing fields, which are now real pool tables. Before, players had to deal with water and mud.
All of this makes it a very difficult comparison, but I would say that they are players obsessed with their game, with playing soccer, obsessed with tactics, obsessed with getting to the opponent’s area as quickly as possible and obsessed with scoring goals.
“They are two players who are not very expressive, but rather closed. When he went on a trip with the team, the players went out for a walk the morning of the game. Diego stayed in the room,” he recalls. .
“In that sense, he has a certain sympathy for Leo in the sense that they are withdrawn people,” Minguella added.
He said both players needed time at a club: Messi in Barcelona and Maradona in Napoli.
Leo has been much more effective because he has been here many more years. The effect has been direct, very powerful. Diego did not have this opportunity in Barcelona, because he left.
“However, Napoli went from being unknown to being at the highest level in Europe. This is the power of the best players.”
