Argentina’s iconic former playmaker Diego Maradona was once again scathing in his criticism of the Argentina national team but reiterated that Lionel Messi was not to blame even as the captain was facing most of the cynical criticism.
Maradona is not once to mince his words and had been against the appointment of coach Jorge Sampaoli from the beginning. After Argentina’s disastrous World Cup campaign where they lost to Croatia and drew against debutants Iceland, Maradona is of the opinion that the team’s leaders are to be blamed.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Coach Jorge Sampaoli is hanging on to the job by his fingernails but El Diego is no fan.
“The chess player," he called him, due to his continuous system changes.
"The story is written by the quality of the leaders," Maradona added.
“Argentina are adrift. I met Davor Suker, who was my teammate at Sevilla, and he is in the Croatian Federation.
For Maradona, a team’s fighting spirit comes from the kind of people that stay around and manage the team. Croatia are an example of what a team can achieve with the right people managing the team.
“He has an incredible relationship with the players who are prepared to leave everything on the pitch... and they are in the final.”
Maradona blamed the leaders because they expected star man Lionel Messi to solve all of their problems.
“They wanted Messi to solve everything,” he said on the 'Telesur' programme in Venezuela.
“Leo got involved in the game, passed the ball to Biglia or Enzo Perez but got a wheelbarrow of cobblestones in return.”
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