by Luca Caioli
Chapter 26
Jaw-dropping
Conversation with Gianluca Zambrotta
Two seasons together. Two very weak and sad seasons for Barça. And for the defender who arrived in Barcelona after having won the Germany World Cup with the Azzurri (the Blues – the Italian national team). But in the Nou Camp dressing room and on the pitch the current Milan player had time to get a close-up of Messi and evaluate him.
What do you think of Leo Messi?
‘I think he’s one of the greatest talents to come out of the last ten or twenty years. It’s undisputable that he’s one of the best players in the world today, especially if we take into account that he’s only 24 years old and still has a lot of time to grow.’
Do you remember the Barça-Real Madrid match on 10 March 2007?
‘I wasn’t at the ground but Messi’s performance had a big impact on me. As it did on everyone, I imagine. He had already shown us great things back in 2005 at the Bernabéu, but in that classic derby he outdid himself. The most surprising thing of all is that a nineteen-year-old kid could be capable of taking the weight of a team like Barça on his shoulders, which is something very rare, and ensuring they equalised again and again. And all this in an incredibly difficult fixture, agonising, tense, hugely competitive; all derbies are like that of course, but the truth is that the one in 2007 was particularly tough. What can I say? He has exceptional abilities and, above all, a certain maturity and sense of responsibility rare in such a young player.’
And what about that goal against Getafe?
‘That I did see. For me it was jaw-dropping. “How did he manage that?” I wondered. The same question that my teammates, the coach and the Nou Camp spectators were asking. It was an incredible goal, the goal of a star. The most beautiful goal I have ever seen anyone score. It was very similar to the one Maradona scored in ’86. Although, from the ground, Leo’s goal seemed to be even better than Diego’s.’
From the point of view of a teammate, what is Leo’s secret?
‘For him there is no difference between the Nou Camp and the football ground in his hometown. They are one and the same. He doesn’t feel the pressure, or at least that’s how it seems. The main thing is that there is a ball involved. He’s like all the great, extraordinary players I’ve met: when they see a ball they become kids again, excited by their favourite toy. They won’t let go of it and they would never stop playing. Try to take a ball away from Messi. You can’t.’
Why?
‘Because he has incredible ball control, it’s always glued to his left foot, he’s extremely fast, he moves well in small spaces with or without the ball, like Maradona. And he’ll run rings around you to show you up. You never know where he’ll go next. He could go to your right, to your left, or nutmeg you. In some matches the opposition have had up to three players marking him, but in the end he has always managed to make an impact on the game. He’s in a class of footballers where, if he’s on form, he’ll win you the match. He’s already proven it many times. Although, in all honesty, I wasn’t expecting such consistency, such high-level performance game after game. We were lucky to have him on the team.’
Is he an individualist?
‘Driving the ball forward, dribbling, those are trademark elements of his game – he always wants the ball because that’s how he has fun and how he entertains everyone else. It’s like, when you play football with your friends and you’re good, you always want the ball because you want to be the best and leave everyone astounded. No, he’s not an individualist. He has grown and he knows what it means to play in a team.’
And what was he like in training and in the dressing room?
‘He’s a modest kid, very willing to work hard, he feels that he still hasn’t reached his full potential. He’s a fun guy, he jokes and fools around. He’s one of those players who help to create a good atmosphere in the dressing room, one of camaraderie and friendship. He and I are not especially close, because there’s a ten-year age gap, but we chat often. He seems like a mature kid who has his head firmly screwed on. With a great personality.’
Chapter 27
Leo and Diego
18 April 2007
‘Barcelona Football Club are regaining ground.
Xavi …
Messi swerves round Paredes.
He’s hanging onto the ball, he’s gone past Nacho as well.
Messi makes it all the way to Alexis, still with the ball.
Inside the box … he swerves again.
The ball looks like it’s going wide …
Messi scores!
What a goal!
He has left four Getafe players and the goalie in the dust.
A right-footed shot. Nothing like the usual Messi!
Just look at that goal!
It’s the 28th minute, midway through the first half.
Without a doubt, that could be the goal of the season …
Amazing. The whole world is smiling and does not know what to make of that display of drive, speed, ability, dodging and finish. It really was truly impressive …
I don’t want to compare, but it reminds me of Diego Armando Maradona’s goal against England in the 1986 World Cup. They are two different goals. They are two different players. I don’t mean to say that Messi is Maradona, but it reminds me of that goal.’
That was the TV commentary of the Barcelona-Getafe game, on 18 April 2007, on Digital +.
And this is the voice of Víctor Hugo Morales on Radio Argentina on 22 June 1986 at the Argentina-England game, Azteca stadium, Mexico City.
‘Diego’s turn.
Maradona has the ball.
There are two men on him, Maradona’s on the ball, the world footballing genius heads to the right, he gets past the third and there’s only Burruchaga left to face him …
It’s all Maradona!
Genius! Genius! Genius! C’mon c’mon c’mon c’mon and
Goaaaal! … Goaaaal!
Spectacular!
Viva!
What a goal!
Diegoal! Maradona!
Please excuse me, I’m quite emotional …
Maradona makes a memorable run, the best play of all time … cosmic kite … What planet did you come from? To leave all the England players by the wayside, so that the country would be a clenched fist screaming for Argentina … Argentina 2, England 0.
Diego! Diego! Diego Armando Maradona …
Thank God for football, for Maradona, for these tears …
For this score, Argentina, 2; England, 0.’
The shirts are different. So is the importance of the two games: one is a Copa del Rey semi-final, the other was a World Cup quarter-final against an opponent like England, whom Argentina were facing for the first time since the 1982 Falklands War. Although everyone denies it, non-footballing factors are making themselves felt, quite substantially … at least in the hearts of the fans.
The protagonists are different: Maradona, the cosmic kite, is 25, he is God, he is the world superstar. When the Golden Boy scored that goal, Messi the Flea still had not been born yet. He is a nineteen-year-old kid who debuted in the Spanish league and with the Albiceleste less than two years previously.
The excitement of the commentators is incomparable: the tears, the epic feelings and the South American rhetoric versus the rigour, at least on this occasion, of the Spanish commentators, and yet … the two goals are really quite similar, very similar, one seems to have been learned from the other. The first impression is correct.
The next day, the whole world sees history repeating itself. On global video archive YouTube, the goal unsettles Internet users. It is viewed thousands of times, as well as alongside Maradona’s goal. It opens up an online debate as to which of the goals is better. Everyone has their own opinion, from expert ones to impassioned ones, while the media compares the two clips from every possible perspective, praising Leo’s performance.
Headlines, commentaries and linguistic inventions of all shapes an
d sizes are to be heard and read: from ‘Messidona’, to ‘The Foot of God’, or even, ‘Messi shocks the world’. There is no bias to speak of: the evidence is enough for even the Madrid sports papers, who are generally reticent about dedicating the front cover to their eternal rivals Barcelona. This time, however, they do not hesitate. The Marca front page headline reads: ‘Twenty years, ten months and 26 days later, Messi repeats Maradona’s goal.’ And inside are quoted Víctor Hugo Morales’ words: ‘What planet did you come from?’ It has not escaped anyone’s notice that this is one of those events rarely seen on a football pitch.
Take the 53,599 Nou Camp spectators, for example: they are on their feet, grabbing hold of anything that can be waved, from the newspaper to the programme, a handkerchief or a scarf, waving en masse. And those who do not have anything of the appropriate colour still partake of the collective ritual, applauding until their hands hurt. A full-blown tribute.
Or take those who are on the pitch, like Eto’o, Deco, Gudjohnsen. The three of them hold their hands up to their faces. ‘Oh my God, what did he just do?!’ is the best translation of their disbelieving expressions. And it doesn’t end there – in the live interviews at the end of the match, teammates and opposition alike are brimming with praise.
‘It was the best goal I have ever seen in my life’ – Deco.
‘He has eclipsed us all’ – Jorquera.
‘I only hope I don’t see myself on TV in 30 years’ time’ – Paredes.
‘Words do not exist to describe that goal. From over there on the bench I was awestruck’ – Güiza.
Bernd Schuster, Getafe coach at the time, does not agree, but everyone knows what the German is like. ‘We should have fouled him in order to stop him, even if it would have earned us a booking. You can only be so noble.’
The debate has begun and within a day it has spread all over the world. Although football is aesthetic and fantastical, some people insist on analysing it with numbers, figures and statistics.
So here they are: Leo’s goal took twelve seconds compared to Diego’s 10.8; he ran 60 metres, while in the Azteca stadium it was 62; he made thirteen touches against Maradona’s twelve; he slalomed round five of the opposition, while Maradona left six England players in his wake. The pictures of the action are superimposed, they are analysed side by side in order to compare and understand. People look for the similarities as if it were a children’s game. Buenos Aires newspaper La Nación does it best, pointing out ten coincidences, from the spot where the play begins right up to the celebration (both run towards the corner flag on the right hand side of the pitch). Websites, TV stations and newspapers launch their polls. The questions are more or less the same: which goal was more spectacular, that of the Flea or that of Diego? Which did you prefer? Which did you think was better? Marca’s poll attracts 55,000 respondents: 60.62 per cent prefer Messi’s goal, while 39.38 per cent opt for Maradona’s goal. The result is the same on the Cadena Ser radio station, although the margins are closer: Messi wins with 52 per cent to Diego’s 48 per cent. Mundo Deportivo’s poll records an overwhelming majority in favour of the Barcelona striker: more than three-quarters of the voters. Argentina’s Olé website users award Maradona 74.3 per cent of the vote. It was predictable, because that goal is engraved in the country’s collective memory – there isn’t a single household in which that goal hasn’t been watched on video or DVD at least once. In Argentina they have even made a ‘flickbook’ with the goal of the century. It’s a ‘handheld movie’, you flick the pages and it is as if you are watching the film in action (in addition, the Icons of Argentina collection also includes the ‘Hand of God’ goal, Maradona’s tricks with the ball in Villa Fiorito and Maxi Rodríguez’s goal against Mexico; Leo Messi and his moment of glory are not yet part of this exclusive selection). And it should also be noted that in Argentina, Maradona is not just a footballer, but a people’s hero, a living legend, a faith (the Maradonian Church parodies religion and worships Diego as a supreme god), and a national historic icon, like José de San Martín (the general who fought for independence from Spain), Carlos Gardel (the famous tango singer), Evita, Jorge Luis Borges (the famous author) or Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara. It’s natural that the Argentines should feel reticent about trading him in as if he were a mere football sticker.
What is certain is that these polls perfectly illustrate the extent of the passion felt on both sides of the pond. As well as the debate over which goal is better, another question arises: that of Messi’s intentions, or in other words, to quote La Nación, ‘Was Messi trying to imitate Maradona? Was it or wasn’t it a big coincidence?’
The man himself will erase all doubts. ‘Perhaps the play was similar, I have only seen it once on television,’ declares Messi, ‘but I never thought it could be the same as Diego’s goal. They told me afterwards, but at that moment I wasn’t thinking about anything, only of the joy of having scored a goal.’
And there’s more, when they ask him to describe his achievement, Leo describes it thus: ‘I saw a gap and I went forward, as always, to get forward and try to score. The two defenders were closing in on me and I wasn’t getting anywhere, so I looked for someone to play a one-two and when I saw the gap I got past. Luckily it worked.’
That air of simplicity, as if it was something normal (and deep down it is, it is part of his job), is reminiscent of Maradona in ’86, or at least it is if we go by the memories of Jorge Valdano. ‘Diego insists that he tried to pass me the ball various times, but he kept finding obstacles that prevented him,’ he says, although he is convinced that in reality Diego ‘was never willing to let go of that ball’. Valdano offered Maradona the chance to pass; in Messi’s case it was Eto’o. The parallels and similarities between the two goals are infinite, including the issue of the kick suggested by Schuster and supported by another Getafe defender. Listen to what ‘el Negro’ Enrique, who was present at the famous Azteca game, has to say. ‘They say that the England players didn’t try to foul Maradona. That’s because they couldn’t! Whenever they got there, he had already passed them.’
The same holds true in Messi’s case. Let’s stick with the anecdotes. In the Mexico World Cup it was Héctor Enrique who laid claim to his contribution to the goal and the previous pass; here, Xavi does the same. ‘He told me,’ reveals Messi, ‘that with all the great goals everyone talks a lot about the goal, but he passed it to me and yet no one mentions it.’ By contrast, there is no parallel whatsoever between what happened afterwards, among other things, because naturally the two situations were different. Perhaps there is not even any link between the words of the two protagonists. After the match, Leo says that it ‘wasn’t a big deal’ and quietly goes out to dinner with his father and his friend Pablo Zabaleta. Unfortunately, the media attention forces him to move restaurant. There are too many people waiting for him at the usual one. At a jam-packed press conference at the Nou Camp the following day, a wet-haired, recently showered Leo says into the microphones that he has slept soundly and that ‘he really has not stopped to think about the goal and what it means’. He is immune to the persistence of journalists, adding that the goal doesn’t change a thing. ‘I don’t feel any kind of pressure, I am going to keep playing and enjoying myself as I have always done.’ There is one thing, however, which he does not forget: the dedication, which he had already made at the time and now repeats. ‘I dedicate it to Diego. I want to send him all my support and best wishes and hope that he gets out of there as soon as possible and recovers, because that is what the whole of Argentina and all football fans everywhere want.’
Diego Armando Maradona is in hospital. He was admitted as a matter of urgency during the night of 1 April. An alcohol relapse has caused acute alcoholic hepatitis. According to his personal physician, Alfredo Cahe, he was on the brink of death. In Argentina they even announce his death. Luckily it is not the case, and during the beginning of May Maradona is discharged from the Avril neuropsychiatric clinic where he had voluntarily submitted to therapy to h
elp overcome his alcohol dependence. The first thing he does upon leaving is to appear on the TV programme ShowMatch to recount his version of events and attack those who tried to bury him before his time. And during the interview with his friend Marcelo Tinelli, he also finds time to talk about Messi’s goal. Let’s hear from Maradona: ‘Those who made that comparison were exaggerating. They really over exaggerated. To start with, my goal was more beautiful than Messi’s. And what’s more, I scored it against eleven internationals from England, a world champion team, and in a World Cup. Leo scored his against Getafe, in the Copa del Rey in Spain. It’s not the same.’ Maradona restores his goal’s reputation and accuses everyone who has dared to make comparisons as having exaggerated. Months later, in an interview with El Gráfico, a weekly Buenos Aires sports paper, he is even harsher. ‘What was the first thing you felt after seeing Messi’s goal against Getafe?’ they ask him. Annoyed, he replies: ‘It has nothing to do with mine.’ ‘The circumstances no, but the action itself was similar, Diego …’ they insist. ‘No, no, leave it, they are nothing alike. I scored millions of those kinds of goals in training, they’re just not on tape. If we’re going to talk seriously about this, don’t make me say something I don’t mean …’