Juan Carlos Montes, the coach, asked him what the rest of the players knew he was going to ask:
–Nene, do you dare?
“Yes,” the boy smiled.
–Well, come in, play and the first ball you catch will hit a pipe.
The little boy stood up, raised his shorts to his navel because they were too long, and waited for the team captain’s signal to go to the field.
The little boy was fifteen years, eleven months and twenty days old. It was Diego Armando Maradona. He was the youngest player in the history of Argentine soccer.
With the 16 on his back and his heart beating a thousand, Pelusa entered, threw that tunnel and warned that he was arriving to conquer the world of football.
Wednesday marked the 45th anniversary of Diego’s official debut in El Bicho and, therefore, in First Division football. And it’s this guy’s first anniversary without him with us. Therefore, the emotion is even stronger, deeper, more Maradonian.
It was against Talleres, in La Paternal, in a game that had thousands of fans, but millions say they have been.
Maradona recalled details of his debut in Argentinos
According to Maradona years later, Montes, his coach at that time, had already been testing him in training, putting him together with the Argentine starting team. And it was that hot Wednesday in October that his first time came, although entering from the bank.
“In practice on Tuesday the DT approached me and said: ‘Look, tomorrow he is going to go to the Primera bench.’ He repeated: ‘Yes, he is going to go to the First Bank, prepare well that he is going to enter.’ From there I ran with my heart in my mouth to tell my old man, my old woman. And, of course, I told La Tota and within two seconds Fiorito knew everything, “recalled Diego.
The day came, a Wednesday that, as was said before and is repeated, the heat was important. And what does it have to do with the debut? Maradó himself told it: “We were so poor that the game with Talleres was played at 3 or 4 in the afternoon, a sun of the p … mother, that broke you, but the only pants I had was the of corderoy “.
The question Maradona was talking about, who was about to turn 16 at that time, was that “the guachos used the lamb ones in winter and I sent him straight, what did the heat matter to me if I had a heart that It was beating in an incredible way. ” The illusion of the debut was stronger than the degrees or the look.
“I went on the train, I took the 44, the 135, Boyacá and Jonte, and there we met the Argentinian players. They looked at me with the lamb pants and said ‘this one had the wrong closet’. What closet if not Did we even have a closet? But hey, when we entered the dressing room I felt that I was touching the sky with my hands because I was among the 16, with number 16, “Diego continued.
The memory of the debut
That Wednesday 10/20, Talleres, which had been fighting the tournament and brought many people to the Argentinos stadium, started better and went 1-0 with a goal from Luis Dueña, el Hacha, after 27 minutes of play. “In the PT we could have scored three goals. Everything was matched with the entry of Diego in the second stage. He was a short curler, with mental speed and well-worked legs,” recalled the author of the only goal of the game.
Montes decided to take out Rubén Giacobetti (who had lost the mark in the T goal) and send Diego to the field. “The best in the world replaced me, not just anyone. It was a shock to enjoy the pipe that he threw at Cabrera,” said who left the place at 16, who at first did not like going out at all, but over time he knew that it was something historic.
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Presentation spout
The spout. The famous spout. It existed, of course. There are different versions and one reality: his DT asked him to try and Diego threw it away. The one who ate it was Juan Cabrera. “Rubén Bravo, our coach, had not warned us at any time of Diego’s ability. For that reason, Chacho Cabrera, who came to mark him in one of the first plays, ate an impressive pipe. We loaded him a lot with that pipe to poor Chacho, but the truth is that any of us who had gone to mark it, would also have eaten it. It was one of those clean pipes, which are not forgotten, which justify the price of a ticket “, explained the Hacha Ludueña , a witness of luxury.
And what did Diego say about his luxury? First, he clarified that it was not the first ball he touched, something that was rumored: “It was not the first,” he assured. The first I remember that I made a dive and did not arrive. At the third time he ate the pipe. When they gave me the ball and I made him like this, pac, tac, caño. “Reading the phrase makes you imagine him telling it, with his eternal way.
We will have to see the play to confirm how it was, but no, there is no video. Yes, there are images of the game, like that in the first ball that Diego caught, taking out of the middle, he already faced and dribbled, but not from that pipe.
“In that game my great illusion of playing in big teams begins, buying my mother a house, feeling that I could play in Boca, in the National Team … A dream begins that we fantasized with my friends, but that seemed impossible. When I made my debut and I started to caress him, to feel him closer, “revealed Maradona, a few years ago, on another anniversary to October 20.
What came after the debut is already history, legend and football in all its expression. Boca, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla, Newell’s and again Boca. The National Team, the World Cups, the Hand of God, the Goal of the Century, the Cup in his hands … DT in the United Arab Emirates, Dorados, Gymnastics. And so we can continue.
October 20 is not another date in the world of football. It is the first time of the best of all. The beginning of a path to being a legend. With spout and with only one pants. “Well, after that game I was able to change my pants,” Diego warned. Goodness.
Extracted from El Gráfico and Olé
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
