Cigarette smoker Alfio Basile is the only man to coach both Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, loves w

Publish date: 2024-05-26

The Finalissima is back and Lionel Messi will be looking to help Argentina retain it as they take on Italy at Wembley on Wednesday, June 1.

The European Championship winners clash with the Copa America trophy holders for the first time since 1993 and it promises to be a mouth-watering game which you can hear live on talkSPORT.

It's a match only played twice in history - in 1985 and 1993 - but could become a regular fixture.

The CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions, or Artemio Franchi Cup as it used to be known, has the potential to draw huge crowds around the world.

And its history is littered with the greats of the game with Michel Platini inspiring France to glory in the first against Uruguay in Paris.

Eight years later, the Albiceleste were victorious, also on home soil, as they defeated Denmark's famous Euro 1992 winners.

Diego Maradona was the star of the show that day, although even he would have conceded it wasn't a vintage performance.

He did net Argentina's first penalty in their 5-4 shoot-out win, mind you, beating Peter Schmeichel with an effort into the bottom left corner.

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Maradona was joined in the team by a young Diego Simeone, Gabriel Batistuta, and Claudio Caniggia.

Their coach that day was Alfio Basile - the only man to have coached both Maradona and Messi in a senior match, which is some feat.

Basile, inspired by 1978 FIFA World Cup winning coach Cesar Luis Menotti, became Argentina boss for the first time in 1990.

And with his young talents, he led his nation to a Copa America win, and a Confederations Cup before intercontinental glory against the Danes.

In highlights, Basile can be seen puffing away on a trademark cigarette in the dugout, while he also loved a whisky.

Another Copa America would follow before a poor World Cup in 1994, not helped by Maradona's drugs ban, ended his tenure.

In 2006, with Argentina struggling again, Basile would return, cigarette in mouth, and another extraordinary talent was on hand to offer him a huge boost.

This time it was Messi - the heir to Maradona. Not that he ever wished to compare his compatriots.

"You must differentiate between Maradona and Messi and not compare them. They're both aliens," he said in 2019.

"Messi made his entire career at Barcelona, unlike the greatest of them all, Maradona, and he plays all over the field and still scored about 700 goals," he added.

Basile put Messi and Maradona at the top of list when it comes to the best ever too - along with another South American superstar he was involved with.

He said: "Together with Pele they are the three greatest I have ever known. I coached two of them, and the other one I played against."

And Basile has frequently backed Messi too, even when others weren't happy with his international contributions.

In 2018, as other talents came to the fore, he said: "It looks good to me that there’s a lot of new faces in the Argentina national team.

"Now, you can stop breaking Messi’s balls, leave him alone, no reason to mess with him.

"That the AFA lose a bit in these friendly matches is necessary, leave him alone in peace.”

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Cigarette smoker Alfio Basile is the only man to coach both Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, loves w

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