D.after a long wait, Lionel Messi became the great figure of Argentina until conquering the world Cup. Even in the grand final against France the Argentine star was the protagonist, with two goals and generated the play with which angel di maria made it 2-0 at the end of the first half. He also converted the penalty in the final shootout, deceiving Hugo Lloris.
Messi He is already an old acquaintance in French football, after being in his third season of the league 1 and is currently defending champion with the psg. Therefore, it will be doubly painful for the French fans, as they will continue to see their executioner every week, at least until the summer.
This story was already lived by Argentine soccer, 32 years ago, when Diego Armando Maradona He became the great executioner of the team where he represented the league where he played, causing a great tragedy, because this team was also the host of the Cup in Italy ’90.
Maradona: the great figure and the great executioner of Italy in the 90
Several years later, Maradona recalled that fateful night for Italy: “I left the Italians out”. This, because he converted the final goal in the penalty shootout for Argentina to advance to the Final, leaving the locals out. The video was shared on Twitter and quickly went viral.
Although in reality, the figure of that night was the doorman Sergio Goicoechea, after he saved two final penalties, against Roberto Donadoni and Aldo Serena.
However, that participation left Maradona as the great villain of the night against the Italians. These are some of the nuances of that night of July 3, 1990:
First, the close historical and cultural bond between Argentines and Italians, due to the large number of migrants who traveled from the European country to colonize the South American one.
Later, Maradona he was at the height of his career as a footballer. In fact, for Italia 90, Diego was the Italian champion with Napoli and, furthermore, that game in which they kicked out the Azzurri was played at the San Paolo Stadium, the stadium of his club and that after his death in 2021, was renamed as “Diego Armando Maradona”.
In regular time, the match ended tied at one goal: Salvatore Schillachi scored 1-0 at minute 18 and Claudio Caniggia equal to 68′, in a play, where of course, Maradona participated in the construction.
Diego also shared that that penalty was “the most suffered” for him until then because “he came from erring against Yugoslavia” and before charging, he had a friendly exchange with the Italian goalkeeper, Walter Zenga, who wanted to play the “war of nerves”, but did not succeed.
“When I played it quickly next to Zenga’s foot I said: ‘Bye'”. That was the goal with which Argentina took the lead on penalties and “Goico” did the rest, saving Aldo Serena.
It was the pass to the Final, but the World Cup ended in tragedy, as Italy failed to reach the Final and Argentina was booed during the intonation of their national anthem prior to the start at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. That night, the albiceleste fell to Federal Germany, also in a controversial penalty, scored by the Mexican whistler, Edgardo Codesal.
The two greatest stars of Argentine soccer ended up being the executioners of the hobbies where they play.
Messi beats France, just like Maradona did with Italy in ’90