“Goodbye, dear little man,” writes Argentina’s football association about the 85-year-old who was the association’s captain from 1974-83, according to AP. He otherwise began his career as a player in Argentina in the 1960s, where there was also a turn at Juventus.
In connection with the home World Cup in the rain of confetti in 1978, he poked a then 17-year-old Diego Maradona at the last moment, something that hurt their relationship for several years. When Menotti managed Barcelona in 1983-84, he had Maradona in the team.
Menotti claimed that the 1978 World Cup victory did not receive the recognition it deserved because the country was then a military dictatorship led by Jorge Rafael Videla. A high-profile photo of staunch communist Menotti shaking hands with Videla may have contributed to the negative image.
Played with Pelé at Santos
Menotti also played with Pelé at Brazilian Santos in 1968 and did not hesitate to name him the best player of all time.
Menotti was also a great lover of literature. In an interview with Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, Menotti asked about smoking.
– When I asked him if it bothered him that I smoked, he told me: ‘What poisons me is not the cigarette, but the stupid conversations’, Borges had answered.
However, Menotti quit smoking in 2011 after being hospitalized for three days for his tobacco addiction.