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Maradona won Argentina a World Cup, Messi may or may not, - Argentina’s Osvaldo Ardiles
Osvaldo Ardiles, a member of Argentina’s 1978 World Cup winning team a Tottenham Hotspur legend, speaks about Argentina, Lionel Messi and, of course, Spurs’ run to the Champions League final
Osvaldo Ardiles, a member of Argentina’s 1978 World Cup winning team a Tottenham Hotspur legend, is here at the invitation of Spurs’ Punjabi fans based in England. In an interview on Friday, the 66-year-old former midfielder spoke about Argentina, Lionel Messi and, of course, Spurs’ run to the Champions League final.
Excerpts:
What do you make of Argentina’s poor run? They looked disjointed in the World Cup and are looking much the same in the Copa America.
We (Argentina) have not started (the Copa) as we would have liked to. We lost the first game to Colombia and drew with Paraguay. We have another game. Hopefully, Argentina will qualify (from the group). We are not playing like a team and that’s why we are suffering. We have Messi, Sergio Aguero and a lot of wonderful players. Maybe they are getting little time to work together as a team.
So much is said about Messi not winning anything yet for Argentina but does his consistency for club and country make him the best player to have emerged from Argentina?
Messi best player ever from Argentina!... (Diego) Maradona will not feel very happy about that. Maradona or Messi is a debate not only in Argentina but all over the world; who is the best player to emerge from Argentina. Messi is similar to Maradona but I played with Maradona for seven years and for me he will always be one up. Maradona has given a World Cup to the country, Messi may or may not.
Your thoughts on the comeback by Spurs in the second-leg of the Champions League semis?
We had a brilliant season and both the semi-finals were great. Liverpool played the Barcelona and the way they changed the result, it was unbelievable. And the next day we had to play other semi-final and Ajax was winning and it was looking like that we would be out. It was a very tough match for us but we changed the result.
Your thoughts on Spurs’ performance in the final?
It was not very good game and both teams were looking little jaded. At end of the day, I would say it was the early penalty (converted by Mo Salah in the second minute) that helped Liverpool. Congratulations to Liverpool for winning the Champions League. Of course, we are disappointed but we were in the final and had had an incredible season.
In hindsight, shouldn’t Lucas Moura have started the final instead of Harry Kane?
My answer is no. He’s (Mauricio Pochettino) the manager and I will always support the decision of the manager.
What do you think Spurs need to do to ensure that last season was not a one-off apart from getting to Pochettino to stay?
This is the team of the future and what has happened in the last four-five years is really wonderful. We have qualified for the Champions League every season. Tottenham is a very ambitious club. Let’s see who is coming to the club (in summer) to reinforce the squad.
Is the Premiership becoming a two-team league given how Manchester City and Liverpool left everyone behind last term?
You can’t say that. This happens sometime in football. In England you have lot of teams that are fighting for the top position. Of course, at the moment, the teams to catch are Liverpool and Manchester City. I will agree with that. But other teams are going to start to catch up; Manchester United has to wake up and I think they are going to spend lot of money and put up a fight. Of course, there is us, Arsenal, Chelsea. Anything can happen.
As one of the first overseas players in England, did you think football in England would now have so many players from South America?
We (Ardiles and Ricardo Villa, both World Cup winners) arrived in 1978 and we were the first foreigners, first from South America. Now there are so many wonderful players. At the end of the day, what matters is how good you are, not from where you are.
