Alcides Ghiggia, Uruguayan, has the honor of being the man who silenced Maracaná. It was in the last game of the 1950 World Cup, when his country’s team was proclaimed world champion, leaving all of Brazil, the host, in tears. Diego Armando Maradona did not score nor was he lucky when he played at Maracaná in either the 1979 or 1989 Copa América. On the other hand, he did have the pleasure of being applauded by the Marakana in Belgrade, the Red Star stadium, now baptized Rajko Mitic.
It was 42 years ago, on October 20, 1982. “That day people really knew and understood the type of player Diego was,” Lobo Carrasco and Tente Sánchez, witnesses of the famous shot at Estrella, explain to this newspaper. Red. It was the second of his two goals. Schuster also scored two (2-4). “We already knew it from training,” concedes Sánchez, who was captain of the team. “When I played, because of the way I was, I always psyched myself up thinking that I was the best on my team,” says Carrasco. When Diego arrived I saw that I had to be his squire. It was a joy to have him,” he points out.
“It defied physics. It was a wild dive, like a basketball bomb throw,” Carrasco compares.
Barça had signed the Argentine star after the World Cup in Spain, and the fans were eager to see what a player who was raving about at Boca Juniors was capable of. The footballer debuted on September 14, 1982 at Mestalla with a goal but a loss. He then scored a hat trick at the Camp Nou against Cypriot side Apollon Limassol (8-0) in the round of 32 of the Cup Winners’ Cup. In the next round, Red Star played. The first leg, in Belgrade.
“It was a good team. The united Yugoslav team always cost us. His players were technical and physical. Red Star was the most powerful team in the country, on par with Real Madrid or Barcelona. Furthermore, Belgrade then had a reputation as a dangerous city,” analyzes Sánchez. “It was cold and the field was not very good,” says Carrasco. In fact, Barça went into the break leading 0-1 thanks to a header from Pelusa from a corner.
“We told Maradona to stay up. ‘Don’t worry about going down. We’ll run,’” Sánchez recalls. And so the play came at the beginning of the second half. “He and I went out with the ball,” says Carrasco. I gave it to him as he crossed the center of the field, I had to jump so he wouldn’t miss me and I ran to his right in case he gave it back to me to make it two against one when the center back came out.”
Maradona did not need support. With the ball under control he approached the area and dribbled past the defender. “It is the typical left-handed diagonal that Messi used to do and now Lamine Yamal does,” Sánchez compares. “When he came out of the dribble, he looked at where the goalkeeper was and put his body to shoot, which was the logical thing to do,” Tente continued. But not.
He didn’t do what everyone else would have done because he was unique. “I could invent anything,” says Sánchez. He pulled out an unlikely Vaseline from his hat. “The goalkeeper was almost two meters tall, plus his arm and jump,” Carrasco exclaims.
“That defied physics. It was a wild bite, better than Vaseline. The ball took a long time to come down,” recalls the winger. “Now we are used to the bomb throws that Navarro made in basketball. So, no. It was like a bomb,” summarizes Lobo.
“We stayed still, the ball fell slowly and the public applauded him,” remembers Tente Sánchez
The ball seemed to hang in the air. “Everyone on the grass, us and them, stayed still. It seemed like he was going to go outside, but no, no, not at all. “I was going inside,” says Sánchez. The goal aroused the admiration of the fans. “The public applauded him. It was unusual because he was pushing hard for the rest of the 89 minutes,” the full-back recalls about the hot atmosphere of the small Maracaná. “It was the moment of the match,” Carrasco says, although there were four more goals afterwards.
“That goal changed the idea of Maradona’s culés. I remember that they even started coming to the Camp Nou earlier to watch Diego’s warm-ups. He did what he wanted with the ball: chest, shoulder, heel… What control of the ball! It was worth seeing, even with an apple he did it in the locker room,” reveals Tente Sánchez. Therefore, far from remaining silent, the Red Star stadium exploded with that Vaseline.
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