Terry Butcher summed up the attitude of small-minded Englishmen everywhere when he explained he was “delighted” by Diego Maradona’s emotional reaction to Argentina’s pathetic defeat last night to Croatia. I would like to say that in this instance, I am every bit as small-minded as any Englishman could be. I too was delighted.
Yes, it’s all about Maradona’s “hand of God” in the 1986 world cup, something that would mean I would never regard the Argentinian as the greatest player of all time, even if he was.His second goal, where he single-handedly beat the entire England team, caused the commentator Barry Davies to say, “You have to say that’s magnificent”. Sorry, but the damage was done by then. I no longer respected Maradona because he had cheated in order to win a game. I would never respect him again.
I am afraid I have a similar view of Cristiano Ronaldo. Yes, I know he is a supremely gifted individual who can turn an average team into one that can win things but the diving, posing, preening that is part of the package is a huge turn off for me. I know it’s the way I think and not something tangible or even real but I feel that the definition of greatness is more than just about one’s ability with a football. I am not comparing the skill levels of, say, Pele and Ronaldo because that’s just silly. However, Pele always had more class in everything he did, at least until he appeared in advertisements concerned with erectile dysfunction.
By the same token, I am not comparing Ronaldo with Lionel Messi, even though many people are. What is the point of that? I prefer Messi as a footballer to Ronaldo and I certainly prefer him as a human being, apart from his issues with the Spanish version of HMRC. Messi is humble, he is a team player and he has crumbled in this world cup in the worst Argentinian team in memory. Whilst I was delighted that Maradona was very upset, I did not feel the same way about Messi who, it seems, will never be able to transfer his Barcelona genius to the international stage in what is essentially an upmarket pub team.
Sorry, Diego. I hated you when you cheated us out of the world cup in 1986 and given what a twat you have become, forgiveness is in short supply. And Lionel: you may as well retire from international football. Your country is certainly doing that, judging from last night.
