A decade separates the two Argentines, but there is a coach who had the pleasure of working with the two best players in history.
Despite the many years between them, Messi and Maradona shared a coach during their career. This is Alfio Basile, nicknamed Coco, legendary player of the Racing Club and Huracan and coach of Argentina twice.
In his first stage as a coach, he led Maradona, for the 1994 World Cup precisely, when the Argentine star was kicked out of the competition for a positive cocaine test. Basile recovered Maradona for the shoot-off against Australia and his performances convinced him to be one of the 23 players in the United States.
For his second stage as coach of Argentina, he was able to count on a young Messi who began to shine with Barça. Although she lost the 2007 America’s Cup final to Brazil (2-0), Argentina had a good run with Messi and Riquelme.
Years later, Basil remains and will remain the only coach to have had the two best players in Argentina and two of the biggest names in world football under his command. A privilege.