Behind the scenes of the storm that Maradona unleashed in the last draw of the World Cup

No one expected it. Maradona had been joking, he had even smiled at the joke of Gary Lineker, his former rival in Mexico 86, who had slipped that he was “skillful with his hands”, alluding to the mythical goal with his fist in that World Cup quarterfinal match against England. But when the former English striker asked him about the group that had been lucky in the draw of the World Cup in Russia, made up of Iceland, Croatia and Nigeria, Diego drew an unexpected verbal gambeta, and left the presenter and his partner dumb.

“Argentina has to pass the round, because the group is accessible and because it has to improve. He can't play as badly as he is.” Black suit, yellow bow, Fluff detonated the gala bomb, loaded with protocol content, without a gesture outside the corset. The world of football went on to talk about what the balls determined... And Maradona's harsh criticism of Sampaoli. And the context in which he had spoken it.

The Ten had already stolen attention throughout the previous one. First, because he rejected the conclave with President Vladimir Putin on the morning shift, as confirmed by an audio that Infobae recently had access to of a month. “No, the Putin thing is all very good, everything is very nice. I want to meet him, I want to talk to him. I had two or three rehearsals already of: 'Hello Putin. What are you doing, Putin? You're re-putin. Re-putin del oro... '. But I have to get up 9:30 and I don't get up at that time, you see?” , you hear him say it.

“It hurts in my soul because everyone will be there... And who is the beast going to ask about? For me. He's not going to ask for (Carles) Puyol, don't screw with me. But it's a very early appointment. He should have made a cocktail in the afternoon, after the activities. I thank Putin, but tomorrow I'm not going. It's decided,” he added.

However, in the late shift the meeting did take place, with Maradona as ambassador for the other stars, including the Brazilian Ronaldo Nazario. “All the boys came to see you, and they want a picture. Ronaldo is so shy that he told me 'Diego, please tell Putin, '” he sought to soften him.

But all those back and forth fell into the background after the albiceleste storm that Diego unleashed, to the point that Sampaoli, who saw from the stalls how he was stoned on stage by the top idol of the National Team, responded to him without naming him moments later before the TV cameras.

“I hope we can play better, we showed some traits during the Playoffs, despite the difficulties. I have the best in the world and the best in history,” he returned, putting Lionel Messi above Maradona. Then, the ups and downs in the relationship with the team's referents generated that neither did the team's stars keep a great memory of their management, which ended after the elimination in the round of 16 at the hands of France.

In fact, that moment was one of the peaks of virulence in the bond between DT and Diego. But there were several. The star's verbal pyrotechnics had been making noise almost since the former Chilean counselor stepped on Ezeiza.

Was there premeditation by Maradona when it came to shaking the National Team from the ground up with that statement? Among those who accompanied him on that journey, they say no. “He never communed with him, if he planned to say that criticism, he had it in his head. It was a Maradonian decision, one of those he had,” stressed a source from the team working with Pelusa.

When was Diego's encono with Sampa born? “He considered him a vendehumo, he got angry when he was running to lead Boca and he made the cross for him, he said he didn't do anything in Argentine football and it bothered him that everyone called him to lead the National Team as the savior,” the same voice revealed.

Did such a thing happen, the flirtation of the native of Casilda with the Xeneize? Sampaoli cut off his relationship with the Chilean national team on January 19, 2016. And he appeared as the main candidate to lead the ribera team in March, when the leadership led by Daniel Angelici was looking for a replacement for Rodolfo Arruabarrena.

Matías Ahumada, then treasurer of Boca, took advantage of a trip to Santiago de Chile to make him an offer. According to the chronicles of the time, he refused the offer because of his sympathy with River and because at that time he did not want to work in Argentina.

“I've been a River fan since I was a kid. It would give me extra pressure to direct there. I couldn't be a coach for Boca,” he later declared in an interview with the radio program No Somos Nadie. Beyond that statement, Angelici was one of those who promoted him in the AFA as a successor to Patón Bauza, when the passage to Russia 2018 was in danger.

There were more factors that burdened Maradona's language. “Sampaoli betrayed me, because when Argentina won the Davis Cup in tennis in Croatia, he told me that he wanted to take the opportunity to pay homage to me in Seville (the club he led), but he never did. It was already noticeable that he had other thoughts,” he accused him. And the attacks deepened after the rocking walk in the qualifiers and the 1-6 win against Spain, in March 2018. “What bothers me, that it took a lot for us to be respected, that Argentina is afraid. Today, except for Messi, they have lost respect for the shirt,” Diego repeated.

“Tell me when people shouted a goal from Sampaoli, you throw the ball at him and return it with your hand,” he whipped him. Already started the World Cup, after 1-1 against Iceland, continued. “Sampaoli can't go back to the country, it's a shame. The problem in Argentina is the one that guides them, the one that puts in their heads what they have to do on the court. Because if the coach is not clear in his concepts, the players cannot perform miracles.”

He sarcastically gave him a nickname he gave him in his television appearances: “the chess player”. It was the continuation of a storm that had an unexpected chapter in the middle of the draw of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the last one that Diego Maradona could witness (and play, in his own way).

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