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Goal scorer Diego Maradona, goalkeeper Peter Shilton at the 1986 World Cup match between Argentina and England: "It wasn't the first time he did it like this"
Photo:
Bob Thomas / Getty Images
This conversation is an excerpt from the book "D10S: Diego Maradona - A Life Between Heaven and Hell" by Hardy Grund and Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling (ed.).
Three months have passed since the death of Diego Armando Maradona, when Jorge Valdano agrees to this interview with a certain listlessness.
But when he pulls out the memories of his friend and looks back on happy moments together, the tone of the conversation becomes more and more pleasant.
You can feel how Valdano gradually overcomes the pain that the news of the death of his teammate and friend has caused him.
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Title: D10S: Diego Maradona - A Life Between Heaven and Hell
Editor: The Workshop
Number of pages: 160
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He had a complex relationship with Maradona in the dressing room, on the field, in training camps and at quite a few dinners.
Of course, in the 40 years that they have known each other, they have clashed.
"We played two and a half world championships," Valdano likes to say when he looks back on the fact that the two of them were in Spain with the Argentine national team in 1982, triumphed at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and they almost shared their experience in 1990, but he, Jorge Valdano, did not make it in time due to an illness.
Question:
Jorge Valdano, when did you find out about Diego Armando Maradona's existence?
Valdano:
Uff!
I found out from newspapers, probably from El Grafico, that Maradona existed, I don't remember the year, sometime before the 1978 World Cup when I was playing at Newell's.
In any case, I read about Maradona first before I saw him personally.
But that's what happened to many for whom it had long since become an event before they saw him play.
Question:
You actually hear that from many in Argentina.
Valdano:
Yes, of course, because a whole generation of Argentines have that in common.
They found out about Maradona without having seen him.
And as for me, I understood the full extent the moment I first saw him on the ball.
Question:
When was that?
Valdano:
I got to know Maradona while training with the national team, on the grounds of the Argentine football association AFA.
That was a few years before the 1982 World Cup when the team was put together for the tournament.
That's when I got to know him, personally and as a player.
Question:
your first impression?
Valdano:
No matter how often you were told or read something somewhere: As long as you hadn't seen this genius ... It was spectacular.
I hadn't seen anything like it before.
Another dimension.
A triumphant Diego, very young, it was overwhelming.
At that time he was already an overpowering personality on the ball.
Question:
Despite his youth?
Was he just in his early twenties then?
Valdano:
Of course, at that time he was not yet the superman he would later consider himself to be.
The one who got along with everything and opposed everything, but he already had a huge personality.
Diego had to be Maradona from the start, from a very young age.
And with the ball he was pure soccer, a player that was full of aesthetics, brimming with creativity and also with pride.
With his innate courage, he challenged everything and everyone.
You look at this player and then you are no longer surprised by what he did later.
He was a footballer who grabbed everything: the dribble, the pass, the detachment from the opponent, and of course the goal.
He had it all.
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Maradona in the dress of the Argentine national team: "Diego was a messiah"
Photo: Ferdi Hartung / imago images
Question:
And he endured almost anything.
During his time at Barcelona in Spain, he was brutally kicked in many games - but he never complained much.
Valdano:
Yes, it was like that.
Diego never complained, he immediately demanded the ball and went into the next dribble.
In that sense it was a pure product of the "potrero", the football field.
And you mustn't forget that he comes from the poorest corner, from a slum area.
You cannot understand Diego without considering his origins.
Question:
How was Diego in the dressing room, as far as you can remember?
Valdano:
The cabin was his world.
In the beginning, like all young players, he had a reserved manner. At that point he was not the person he later became, who set the tone for jokes and chants.
He was someone who cared about custom.
But if there was one thing he never lost, it was respect for fellow players - never.
Neither the day he arrived nor the last day.
For Diego, the group has always been the most important thing.
I think he always felt protected there, and he showed it on and off the pitch.
Question:
How did he show that?
Valdano:
With thousands of little gifts for the group.
For his colleagues, but also for the people around us, because Diego was a wonderful, generous person.
For example, when he saw that a teammate was having problems extending his contract, he went to the president, confronted him and fought for the contract.
It was important for Diego that his colleagues were happy.
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Maradona (number 10) celebrates a goal with Jorge Valdano at the 1986 World Cup.
In addition to the two Jorge Luis Burruchaga (number 7)
Photo: Werek / imago images
Question:
He is said to have given other players expensive watches.
Was he really that generous?
Valdano: Certainly
even more generously than is told!
He gave you a watch or a tie with the same ease with which he served you a pass on the pitch that let you run freely towards the goalkeeper.
I believe that the feeling of happiness that he felt on the pitch made him show solidarity, courageous, accomplished and even exhibitionism and at the same time combative like a hungry wolf.
I am convinced that it was only because he gloriously stepped these 100 by 70 meters that life became worth living for him.
I'm sure.
Diego was happy in the dressing room and on the pitch.
Question:
How did you fit together, two such different personalities?
How was your relationship
Valdano:
We always got on well.
Our relationship was based on respect.
I never had a respectful relationship with him as a legend, although I knew at all times that he was one.
We were often closely connected, but we also knew how to keep our distance from one another without losing respect.
With Diego everything was person to person, always because it was never complicated.
Diego was very close when he needed it, but also knew when to keep his distance.
Because that's what he did, for a long time when we didn't go together.
Question:
Was it funny?
Valdano:
When I think of him, I smile.
Yeah, he was funny.
He was funny.
Question:
Did you visit yourself?
Valdano:
Well, if that was possible.
We were with the national team together, I went to see him in Naples, he came to Madrid.
And I remember he called me there once, I didn't have a cell phone yet.
Diego, on the other hand, owned a Nokia that was chunky as a brick.
So he called me and I wasn't home so he didn't catch me until the fourth or fifth call.
And when I finally answered, he said with a laugh: "What's going on, Jorge, do you think you're Maradona?"
“When I think of him, I smile.
Yeah, he was funny.
He was funny. "
Question:
How can you imagine a private meeting with Diego Maradona?
Valdano:
When he came to Madrid he said, "Bring the boys." And then we met, Butragueño, Juanito, Gallego, Michel ... He admired them and they liked meeting him, listening to him.
He respected them and was comfortable with them.
To be surrounded by teammates while he was still playing - and by former teammates when he'd quit - meant for Diego to talk about football.
And he was unmatched in that because he was not only the best on the court, but also the best when it came to storytelling at dinner.
And when Diego shared his memories and anecdotes with us, he was hilarious.
You laughed a lot with Diego, that's my memory of him.
He was funny, witty, had been around a lot and you could tell.
He filled a scene with life and knew how to captivate his audience.
But Diego could also be awe inspiring.
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Maradona at the SSC Naples, where he became the city saint
Photo: imago images / Pressefoto Baumann
Question:
What do you mean by that?
Valdano:
I remember that once a seasoned Argentine player came up to me and said: "Naples wants me." And I answered him, quite naturally: "Good.
Then give Diego a call, right? ”Diego was still playing there or maybe not anymore, but he would have helped him, no question about it.
And the player, who had played maybe 30 games for Argentina with Diego, said to me: “But how, Jorge?
How am I supposed to call Diego, I've never spoken to him. ”Diego impressed.
Which wasn't his fault, but the other's fault.
Question:
Did he like to watch football, that is, to watch games, or just play himself?
Valdano:
Yes, he liked that a lot.
So much so that he watched the kind of games on TV that no one else would want to watch.
But he looked at her.
He watched Tenerife games when I was coach there and surprised me with details.
When he played for Sevilla, he knew everything about the Spanish league.
And when he was the national coach of Argentina, he kept up to date on absolutely everything.
Yes, he liked to watch football and he understood the game.
He saw everything earlier than anyone else.
Yes, he liked that.
Question:
Was the best Diego you have ever seen at the 1986 World Cup?
Valdano:
I can't remember a show of force in a football stadium like that of Diego in 1986. His legs were brilliant.
It was amazing.
Everyone remembers the goal against England, but I can't forget the game against Uruguay and the Koreans ... You can't imagine how they beat him up and how he played.
Apart from what he did with the ball, Diego was what he got across.
I remember the day of the final against Germany.
We had the game under our belt and then the Germans come and equalize.
I just thought: »Adiós!«, Because we were dead. They weren't feeling better either, that was a very intense game ...
Question:
And how was that again: "Football is an eleven against eleven ..."?
Valdano:
... and in the end the Germans always win. «In any case, I still remember that I ran a lot in this game, and when they made it 2-2 shortly before the end, I thought: They'll eat us up in extra time on.
Question:
It was the Germans ...
Valdano:
Yes, it was suddenly night.
But then Diego appeared, and in those moments he always appeared.
I can still remember exactly: We were at the kick-off.
Burru (Burruchaga), Diego and me.
And Burru is a calm man, and he said to me: "We'll win." And I thought: "It's clear." But then Diego said: "Take it easy, Jorge, we'll win," and I thought: "If Diego tell me that, then we'll win. ”Clearly, if he told me that, we'd win.
Diego was the king and we were a solid group, no doubt about it.
If he believed in something, we all believed it.
And we won.
Question:
Before the start of the World Cup in Mexico, did you have the feeling within the team that Maradona would definitely lead you to the title?
Or were there any doubts?
Valdano:
I remember how we played in France four months ago, against Platini, and lost 2-0.
I had never seen Diego play as badly as that evening.
He didn't take part in the game, didn't get the ball and didn't even ask for it. Afterwards I found out that he had planned all of this, that the game was part of his preparation.
But I was shocked at the time because I thought that we wouldn't achieve anything like that with a Diego in this condition.
Finally we got to Mexico and I understood that we couldn't be stopped.
It was a demonstration, the perennial cherry on a good cake.
It was a heavy group that sat down to discuss all sorts of things.
There was a moment when you realized that nothing bad could happen to this team and to Diego.
Enlarge image
Maradona with the 1986 World Cup: "It was all just so Maradonian"
Photo: imago images / Pressefoto Baumann
Question:
And there were two historic goals, both against England.
How did you experience it?
Valdano:
As a spectator!
And how I experienced it!
It was all just so "Maradonian"!
With the first one you could already picture the goal because you saw him running with the ball and thought: "On, on, to the goal, on." I was close, just accompanied him, was fascinated how he got you out left, two, three ... I thought, "Okay, if he alludes to me now, I'll go from being a fan to being a footballer again." But he didn't play, sometimes he turned you into a spectator as a teammate.
Yes, and at the other gate ...
Question:
... the "hand of God"?
Valdano:
Exactly.
He had worked on that in training.
It wasn't the first time he'd done it this way.
Question:
I beg your pardon?
Valdano:
When I hit the corner in training and he locked it and the ball was in the goal, some people would laugh sometimes and ask: "What happened now?" And others said: "Didn't you see that?"
He put it in with his hand! ”So I wasn't surprised that he scored against England like this, it was aimed.
It is true that there was doubt in the scream, and when we embraced he also hinted at something: "Now, let's get started," he said, and then I began to have doubts ...
Question:
Did you still run quickly towards the center circle?
Valdano:
Very quickly, of course.
Question:
Immediately after the other gate he hugs you and speaks to you.
What did he say to you?
Valdano:
I don't know anymore.
But much later, after the game or at dinner, he said that he actually wanted to fit in with me during his run because he had seen me.
But that didn't work because an Englishman kept standing in his way.
So he kept running until he played the "pass" into the network.
I once wrote an article about the speed of light in Diego's head.
I kept thinking he would fit the ball to me, it really was, but eventually he found a better ally and handed it over to the net, and he made a good choice.
He always made the best choice.
If I am to be honest, I limited myself to admiring it on the pitch because it was impressive.
I swear to you, after training, Diego had a sensual relationship with the ball - it was pure music.
“Diego was a messiah, above club colors, it didn't matter which team you were for.
Because Diego came from the people so much that he belonged to everyone. "
Question:
After so many years with him: How many Diegos have you met?
Valdano:
I know Diego and I know Maradona.
And I know he always lived with it.
I remember a moving conversation in Tenerife, at the Hotel Mencey, in which he honestly spoke to me about himself and Maradona.
It was like two trains colliding.
Many things emerged from this conversation that I will never forget.
And many names.
But I will always live with the memory of my Diego, nobody will take that away from me, because nobody can take away the memory or the affection of someone like him.
And his affection fills many drawers, an entire apartment ...
Question:
Being Maradona didn't have to have been easy.
Valdano:
No, being Maradona was never easy.
In the mythology of the Argentine people, Diego came right after the tango singer Carlos Gardel.
Diego was a messiah, above club colors, it didn't matter which team you were for.
Because Diego came from the people so much that he belonged to everyone.
He was Argentinian and that was enough.
So Diego had to be Maradona since he was 15 when he started to compete for a place as Dios, as God.
But of course you pay the bill for it at some point.
Signorini, his long-time fitness trainer, who knew him well, said: "With Diego you would go to the end of the world, with Maradona not even to the next corner." Diego paid the bill when transitioning from the dreaming child to the myth he made ultimately became.
With that in mind, nobody should expect a single reproach from me.