Maradona RIP 1960-2020

[Evilo]

If that can help you understand the person, Maradona accepted to sign with Marseille. All was done except that the mafia threatened him and avoided his departure.

So yeah there are two sides to every story.

 

[Evilo]

Another example :
Paolo Rossi died today. RIP.
He was the main reason Italy won the 82 WC. I don't think there's any denying he played just as much a role as Maradona in 86.
The guy finished with 2 Scudetto titles, 2 european Cup titles.
He has a superior trophy case than Maradona.
Of course, he played at Juve for most of his club titles, but that's also a Juve that both times barely won those 2 titles (by 1 and 2 points).
This is also a guy that produced big when it mattered. That 82 WC was ridiculous really, Italy had no business beating Brazil (much bigger upset that any Argentina win in 86) and won 3-2 only because he scored 3. He also scored all goals in the semi and opened the scoring in the final. He was also C1's best scorer when Hamburg beat Juve in the final.
Guy was injured a lot and yet had a very comparable career to Maradona.

THAT's not normal. Rossi can't touch Maradona's talent.

 

[Fighter]

Another example :
Paolo Rossi died today. RIP.
He was the main reason Italy won the 82 WC. I don't think there's any denying he played just as much a role as Maradona in 86.
The guy finished with 2 Scudetto titles, 2 european Cup titles.
He has a superior trophy case than Maradona.
Of course, he played at Juve for most of his club titles, but that's also a Juve that both times barely won those 2 titles (by 1 and 2 points).
This is also a guy that produced big when it mattered. That 82 WC was ridiculous really, Italy had no business beating Brazil (much bigger upset that any Argentina win in 86) and won 3-2 only because he scored 3. He also scored all goals in the semi and opened the scoring in the final. He was also C1's best scorer when Hamburg beat Juve in the final.
Guy was injured a lot and yet had a very comparable career to Maradona.

THAT's not normal. Rossi can't touch Maradona's talent.

Granted that we beat one of the best Brazil teams ever, that italian team had Zoff, Gentile (one of the toughest defenders EVER, nullified Maradona AND Zico), Cabrini, Bruno Conti, Lele Oriali, Tardelli, Ciccio Graziani. Much MUCH stronger team than Argentina's team in 1986, really can't compare. Rossi happened to explode against Brazil but the team was rock solid and was built from Roma and rubentus, who were dominating the Serie A in those years. The italian team was rock solid, nothing like a decent Argentina team with a bunch of no names and less than a handful of good players.
And as the international trophies he won, thanks a lot, it's the same rubentus powerhouse we were talking about before. Rossi was a complement of that powerhouse.

If that can help you understand the person, Maradona accepted to sign with Marseille. All was done except that the mafia threatened him and avoided his departure.

So yeah there are two sides to every story.

Camorra, not mafia. Do you blame him for this really? With Berlusconi this wouldn't have happened because, well, you know Berlusca's connections...

 

[Islay1989]

Granted that we beat one of the best Brazil teams ever, that italian team had Zoff, Gentile (one of the toughest defenders EVER, nullified Maradona AND Zico), Cabrini, Bruno Conti, Lele Oriali, Tardelli, Ciccio Graziani. Much MUCH stronger team than Argentina's team in 1986, really can't compare. Rossi happened to explode against Brazil but the team was rock solid and was built from Roma and rubentus, who were dominating the Serie A in those years. The italian team was rock solid, nothing like a decent Argentina team with a bunch of no names and less than a handful of good players.
And as the international trophies he won, thanks a lot, it's the same rubentus powerhouse we were talking about before. Rossi was a complement of that powerhouse.



Camorra, not mafia. Do you blame him for this really? With Berlusconi this wouldn't have happened because, well, you know Berlusca's connections...

Italy nearly got eliminated in the 1st group, and if Bearzot listened to fans and the media and left Rossi at home this great team wouldn't have come close to winning the Cup. This great team failed to win a single game in their first group drawing against Peru, Cameroon and Poland until Rossi woke up against Argies.

As for Juve dominating Serie A and providing the backbone of the team, sure, they dominated, it's just that the two best players on that team didn't exactly play for Italy. Same with Roma, who had Falcao and Prochaska. This nonsense that 86 Argentina was a bunch of bums dragged to the Cup by Maradona is so out of touch it boggles the mind. Would they win without him? No. But they had plenty of talented footballers across the pitch. This wasn't 78 Argentina that had Kempes and a bunch of butchers that the refs let run riot. Ruggeri was a fantastic footballer. Burruchaga as well. Valdano didn't play for Real Madrid for no reason.

It wasn't Maradona's heroics that led them past Uruguay. Matthaus also kept him in check for 85 minutes of the Finals and if it weren't for the heroics of Brown and Valdano, he wouldn't even be in the position to play that fantastic through ball to Burruchaga which he converted for the win. Maradona's legendary performance came in two games, against England and Belgium which was later capped of with the Cup winning assist.

 

[Evilo]

Granted that we beat one of the best Brazil teams ever, that italian team had Zoff, Gentile (one of the toughest defenders EVER, nullified Maradona AND Zico), Cabrini, Bruno Conti, Lele Oriali, Tardelli, Ciccio Graziani. Much MUCH stronger team than Argentina's team in 1986, really can't compare. Rossi happened to explode against Brazil but the team was rock solid and was built from Roma and rubentus, who were dominating the Serie A in those years. The italian team was rock solid, nothing like a decent Argentina team with a bunch of no names and less than a handful of good players.
And as the international trophies he won, thanks a lot, it's the same rubentus powerhouse we were talking about before. Rossi was a complement of that powerhouse.



Camorra, not mafia. Do you blame him for this really? With Berlusconi this wouldn't have happened because, well, you know Berlusca's connections...

I certainly don't blame him.
Just that he's not the guy to reject a move out of Napoli.

 

[Fighter]

Italy nearly got eliminated in the 1st group, and if Bearzot listened to fans and the media and left Rossi at home this great team wouldn't have come close to winning the Cup. This great team failed to win a single game in their first group drawing against Peru, Cameroon and Poland until Rossi woke up against Argies.

Rossi was so out of shape he could barely finish a game, as he was coming out of a two years ban. Having said that the team was underperforming given the talent they had and it showed when it mattered.

As for Juve dominating Serie A and providing the backbone of the team, sure, they dominated, it's just that the two best players on that team didn't exactly play for Italy.

Cabrini, Scirea, Gentile all played for rube, nuff said about that defense. Add Tardelli and Rossi.... not bad, isn't it?

Same with Roma, who had Falcao and Prochaska.

Bruno Conti? Ciccio Graziani? Roberto Pruzzo? (who ironically won the Serie A top scorer trophy in 1982 (and other two times I think) but was left out by Bearzot for Rossi. Prohaska one of their best players.... WUT?!?! I do know something about him: he started his italian career at Inter and the fans nicknamed him "lumachino" (little snail) because he was slow as f***, so after two not-so-memorable seasons he was shipped to Roma. I have never ever heard any Roma fan even mentioning him as one of their (best) players honestly
So without Rossi, Italy would have had Pruzzo, with Altobelli as first sub. A heck of a team if you ask me (yeah, still not as stacked as Brazil).

Ruggeri was a fantastic footballer. Burruchaga as well. Valdano didn't play for Real Madrid for no reason.

Wouldn't call Ruggeri "fantastic", but that's me. Burruchaga and Valdano are the names which are mentioned repeatedly, again less than a handful of notable names as I said. IMO the best Argentina ever fielded was the 1994 one but it didn't end up too well for them...

 

[Juve]

I am enjoying reading this conversation because everyone is talking about 99% of players I've never watched play or some I never heard of.

 

[BMann]

Rugierri is rated by anyone who knows a damn thing. He was a brilliant player. Burruchaga is someone I like as well.

I think the 86 squad was better than the one that won one against Cruyff, that won because the refs let them butcher everyone on the way. That Final was worse than Sweden - Brazil where Sweden basically low kicked Brazilians for 90 mins. But I do love Kempes, he was a joy to watch.

El Matador was a wonderful player. Elegant, graceful and the strike of a mamba. In the top five of all time Argentine forwards in the role of an out and out centre forward.

​

 

[Albatros]

Matthaus also kept him in check for 85 minutes of the Finals

That's one way to see it I suppose. Another is that he took the creative engine of Germany out of game and made the team completely harmless for most of it. That game was Germany's to lose, and they lost largely because Matthäus was solely occupied with trying to keep Maradona in check.