Argentina coach Diego Maradona on Wednesday sought to put Brazilian legend Pele in his place, insisting the latter was the second-best player ever after himself.
A FIFA Internet poll in 2000 saw Maradona, who will lead the Albiceleste against the five-time world champion Brazilians in a World Cup qualifier next Saturday, come out on top, and he said on Wednesday that ought to settle the issue.
“What matters is that when the people voted, he came second behind me. Nobody can take that away from me,” insisted Maradona, who said the fact he had played with success in European club soccer, unlike Pele, ought to be the clincher — even if Pele won three World Cup titles to his one.
Maradona told FIFA.com that he believed he deserved the accolade of No. 1 player ever.
“Do you know what? I played in European football for 10 years while Pele played in South America. Yes he won World Cups and everything, but playing in Europe is something else entirely,” he said.
“Not that that makes me much better than him or anything like that. When I played, the man-markers in Spanish and Italian football were like hunting dogs. They never left me alone,” the Argentine said.
“What matters is that when the people voted, he came second behind me ... And there was another vote in Brazil in which he came second behind Ayrton Senna. He needs to stop coming second,” Maradona said.
Next month, Maradona will need to put one over today’s generation of Brazilians, who lead the way in continental qualifying.
Argentina currently lie fourth in South American qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals with 22 points, just two ahead of Ecuador, but five behind Brazil.
Only the top four sides qualify automatically for the finals in South Africa.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
RSS