Borghi: “My idol was Leopoldo Jacinto Luque” | OneFootball

El Litoral continues on its road to the World Cup with special coverage featuring two special correspondents in the United States starting June 7, to experience the build-up and the tournament itself, in which Argentina will defend the world champion title it won brilliantly in Qatar in 2022.

Every Friday at 8:30 p.m., on Cable and Diario, Darío Pignata and Enrique Cruz host “El Litoral on the Road to the World Cup.” In Santiago, Chile, Claudio Borghi spoke exclusively to El Litoral multimedia and said that “at World Cups, I’ve been a fan, I’ve been a player, and I’ve gone to work. I like having gone as a fan the most. My time as a player was extraordinary, but those two months of training camp in Mexico in 1986 were tough and complicated for us. I wasn’t used to being shut in for that long in Mexico, I was 21 years old and competing for a spot with Maradona, Burruchaga, Bochini, Tapia, and Trobbiani. So I already knew it was going to be difficult. Even so, I was able to contribute my part, and obviously I feel like a world champion, because all of them are champions: those who play a lot, those who play a little, and also those who don’t play but are part of the squad.”

Borghi recalled the lead-up to that 1986 World Cup: “We went to play in Norway and lost, then we played in Colombia and after that match something clicked. Bilardo was a very obsessive guy, he trained everything and the sessions were very tough. Burruchaga and I were in charge of taking the corner kicks, and I think we both struck the ball well. One day Bilardo came and asked us to aim for the corner of the six-yard box so that one player would run to the near post, another to the far post, and with two headers we’d score the goal. We tried it, and it was hard. Then he came over and, on the first try, put it exactly where he wanted it. From then on, it was hours of kicking the ball so it would go to that spot… Sometimes I’d wake up, look out, and see people training, but it turned out he was doing group sessions. He was training all day. An obsessive.”

About his relationship with Maradona, he said that “I wasn’t his friend, but I always had a lot of affection for him. One of my idols was Leopoldo Jacinto Luque. When I was at Unión, one day I saw him come in and he said to me, ‘Hi Bichi, how are you?’ and that really struck me… The first thing I thought was: ‘This guy knows who I am.’ And for me it was a source of pride… Going back to Diego, I always say that in the locker room we’re all the same, the difference shows on the pitch.”

Another memory from Bichi was when Maradona left Argentinos Juniors for Boca and several players arrived at Argentinos, including Mario Zanabria. “I was just a kid and I remember the older guys kicking the hell out of me, and Mario defended me and asked them not to hit me… Then he took me to Unión and I went very gladly. I remember the barbecues and the famous Santa Fe beer. And I also remember that Dominique, my daughter, went to preschool at Unión… She doesn’t remember it, but one day I’ll have to take her there so she can see the place where she took her first steps in school.”

About what he calls an “adventure,” those six months at Unión, “Bichi” recalls that “it wasn’t a team built to win titles, and the dream was to avoid relegation. I remember the president was Super Corral and there were good players, like Toresani, Ingrao, and Víctor Ramos.”

“Few times have I seen a situation as unfair as Messi’s”

As for the World Cup in Qatar, he said that “I’m afraid of flying and that’s why I asked for my wife to travel with me. She enjoyed it more than I did. Since the stadiums were close together, that was really good and special… When Montiel scored against France, on the last penalty, the emotion hit me because I’m a fan.”

About Messi, he said that “few times have I seen a situation as unfair as the one Messi went through in Argentina, because of all the criticism he received. He fulfilled every objective, his own and the people’s. Messi had to win the World Cup for people to say he was the best. That was unfair, because he was the best player in the world and didn’t need to prove it by winning a World Cup.”

Regarding the comparison among the three World Cups, he said that “in all three we had the three number 10s, and they were wonderful. I admire Mario Kempes, from ’78. A phenomenon. And I’ve already spoken about Maradona and Messi… Maradona or Messi? For me, there will never be anyone better than Maradona… Recently they asked me about great Argentine figures and I mentioned Martín Miguel de Güemes, because of how he defended the north, and everyone asks me why I don’t choose San Martín, and I say everyone has their own… And there’ll always be some fool who criticizes Messi if things don’t go well for him at the World Cup, because I realize that Messi and Maradona are criticized less abroad than in their own country.”

He pointed out differences with the period after winning a world title compared to what happened after 1978 and 1986. “These guys kept the same hunger to win. As world champions, they went to the United States to win the Copa América and they did,” he said.

His trademark move as a player was the rabona. “People think I invented it, and that’s not true. Every time a player does a rabona, they immediately associate it with me. When I did it, many opponents thought I was trying to show them up, until they realized that wasn’t the case, that I did it when I was winning and also when I was losing… One day at Estudiantes’ stadium I scored a rabona goal, playing in the youth ranks, and the referee came over to greet me and congratulate me.”

He promised to return to Santa Fe. “The only person from Santa Fe who came through here, in Chile, besides Huevo Toresani, who sadly is no longer with us, was Raúl Armando. So I hope he invites me to go to Santa Fe to have a good barbecue and be back in the places where I had a very good time, even though it was only six months and the team didn’t perform as expected.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.