Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, naturally, constantly draw comparisons with each other as a consequence of them each being diminutive Argentines and for his or her type of play, however Maradona’s former team-mate Bernd Schuster believes Diego could be the higher footballer if each performed within the trendy recreation.
Former German worldwide Schuster performed in midfield for Barcelona, Actual Madrid and Atletico Madrid, amongst others, throughout his profitable profession, turning out alongside Maradona at Barca for 2 seasons between 1982 and 1984.
Throughout these two seasons, Schuster had the privilege of witnessing Maradona’s brilliance first-hand. In an period the place pitches weren’t pristine carpets and referees allowed much more reckless challenges from opposition gamers, Maradona clearly thrived.
For Schuster, although, this provides solely a glimpse of the standard he’d have been able to had he been enjoying in at the moment’s recreation.
“We talked quite a bit about soccer,” Schuster informed FourFourTwo about his relationship with Maradona. “We thought concerning the recreation in the identical approach: we preferred to entertain the followers.
“Again then, we performed on pitches that had been in horrible situation and it restricted all of us, even Diego, however he was nonetheless a phenomenon. If he’d been enjoying at the moment, with trendy amenities and pitches, there’d be no debate concerning the biggest participant ever.”
To spotlight his level concerning the risks of the sport over 40 years in the past, Schuster reveals he needed to have two knee replacements due to a 1981 problem by Andoin Goikoetxea, dubbed “The Butcher of Bilbao”.
“Fortunately I used to be in a position to play at a excessive degree for an additional 15 years, however bodily it modified me as a result of my knee was by no means the identical once more. I couldn’t bend it fairly as far and I misplaced a little bit of tempo. In actual fact, two years in the past I needed to have a knee prosthesis eliminated and a brand new one put in. It was a results of that problem.”
After retiring in 1997 with Mexican facet Membership Universidad Nacional (generally often known as Pumas UNAM) Schuster determined to maneuver into administration.
The German led Getafe to the Copa del Rey remaining in 2006/07, in addition to ending seventh in La Liga. That efficiency earned him the Actual Madrid job for the 2007/08 season, the place he received the league title earlier than stepping down in December 2008 because of the emergence of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona.
He moved on to Besiktas and Malaga, with the final job of managerial profession coming in China with Dalian Yifang.
