"
At that moment I knew that the waters were moving. I saw that there was a movement between the players and some managers. I came rotten with a couple of players, Gago was one of them
."
With his iconic and unmistakable voice,
Alfio
Coco
Basile
ignited controversy last week by recalling his departure from the
Argentine National Team
and hinted that some players would have made a bed for him for the arrival of
Diego Armando Maradona
to the Albiceleste substitute bench.
"
Gago was in trouble because Mascherano was always the starter and he wanted to play
," said Coco in a conversation with Radio Colonia.
However, this Tuesday night the first voice appeared that was in charge of defending Diego's actions:
Alejandro Mancuso
, Maradona's assistant during his time with the National Team since 2008,
did it .
Mancu was present throughout Pelusa's entire cycle in charge of Argentina, beyond the fight they both had over fraud years ago.
He experienced it firsthand, which is why he was encouraged to refute Coco Basile's statements and
distanced Maradona from an alleged conspiracy with Fernando Gago.
"When I found out that Diego was already coach of the National Team, he summoned me, called me and told me.
What surprised me was when Fernando Gago was named because we left him out in the 2010 World Cup
," said Mancuso. in dialogue with Radio La Red.
"So if he had insisted that Diego join the National Team,
why is he then left out of the call?
" he added rhetorically.
Diego with Mancuso and Héctor Enrique giving instructions during the 2010 World Cup. Photo: DYN - Carlos Greco.
He even appealed to tactical issues to justify the absence of the midfielder from Boca.
"If we review the file,
I don't know how many games Gago was called up for us
. It was the time when it was Mascherano plus 10.
That team only had Mascherano as support
, there was no other because then there were Maxi Rodríguez, Verón and Di María," he expressed .
Along these lines, Toti Pasman, host of the Fútbol 910 cycle, agreed with Mancuso and recalled an Argentina match against Paraguay in which "
Diego gave him an indication and Gago scolded him for doing it
."
The program panel even mentioned that the current Chivas de México coach would have demanded to play on more than one occasion while he was wearing the Boca shirt.
However, in the middle of his speech, Mancuso lightly dropped a comment in which he explained the annoyance that Basile really had about his departure from the National Team.
"
Coco was a little angry with the situation that we dealt with quickly after his fall
," he confessed.
Basile's comment regarding the impact of his statements
Prior to Mancuso's response, Coco's statements resonated strongly within the football world when he was in charge of revealing the secrets of an unknown that was born 16 years ago.
That is why, true to his style, Basile tried to calm the situation, resorting once again to his mythical "
Silenzio Stampa
".
Sharap, silence stampa!!!
Nou More guys.
It's already happened!!!
It was already!!!
The truth is that my balls were very swollen!!!
Hahaha
✍️Coco Basile from Palermo pic.twitter.com/2LJ73mn2AP
— Alfio Basile (@Alfio_Basile) February 27, 2024
"Sharap, silenzio stampa! Nou More guys.
It's over! It's over! The truth is that my balls were very swollen!
Hahaha," wrote the former technical director on his social networks, making it clear that he was seeking to make reference to his time in the Selection by attaching an image of yourself with the albiceleste diver next to the comment.
With a humorous combination of Spanish words with the exact phonetics of how words are pronounced in English, which used past statements, Basile tried to put an end to the controversy.