"Arrigo Sacchi. I don’t think anyone like Diego will ever be born again. I liked him, not only as a player, but also a man. “He was Maradona, yet with the team he seemed just like an ordinary lad like the rest of us. “He had so many problems because he couldn’t have a normal life. "Playing for your own country, I've always thought that was the best thing that could happen to you. "He was the player that got close to what Diego used to do. Imagine my confidence, but especially my shock!”, That season they won the title again, but the following year is when things really started to go south for Maradona. “I can’t believe he took drugs. En juin 2005, à l'occasion du jubilé de Ciro Ferrara, Diego Maradona faisait son retour à Naples après quatorze ans d'absence. Gianfranco Zola né le 5 juillet 1966 à Oliena, en Sardaigne, est un footballeur international italien devenu entraîneur. Gianfranco Zola has hailed the impact Diego Maradona had on his career when the two played together at Napoli. Off the pitch, I always liked his simplicity. Gianfranco Zola est une des légendes du football italien des années 90, après avoir fréquenté Diego Maradona à Naples, il a rejoint Chelsea en 1996. ‘We beat them 1-0, with a goal by Zolita, Gianfranco Zola,’ wrote Maradona. But despite the disparity in personas, the two had a master-apprentice relationship in those early days at Napoli. Club president Corrado Ferlaino threatened to call the whole thing off if the assembled media didn’t calm down a little bit. VIDÉO SUIVANTE. The story of an extraordinary day that saw India start as favourites for the first Test but crumble to 36 all out and lose to Australia by eight wickets. Day 22 of BBC Sport's advent calendar is for former boxer Nicola Adams, who swapped the ring for the dancefloor in this year's Strictly Come Dancing. “Off the pitch, I always liked his simplicity,” said Gianfranco Zola, who played alongside Maradona at Napoli. So when we met I said to myself: ‘Try not to say anything stupid. "My first one when I was very young, growing up in my hometown. Diego really wants to win tonight. The Argentinean had a huge influence on him and his playing career. Best Football Players - Then and Now - Ronaldo, Maradona, Messi, Pelé,...etc - Duration: 10:07. Zola was a young man in a new city and in need of a mentor to guide his development. Soon, the team officials started considering him as the perfect substitute of the legendary Argentinean footballer Diego Maradona. Deep to the tune of a 15-month ban, much to the dismay of Zola. He found that figure in the epochal form of Maradona, a man reborn in … "The other one, without doubt, was against Stuttgart when we won the Cup Winners' Cup with Chelsea. He will always be the greatest ever. He changed my life. Gianfranco Zola spent seven seasons as a player at Chelsea after joining in 1996 July 15, 2020 keyrincare Memories Comments Off on MOTD Top 10 podcast: Gianfranco Zola on Diego Maradona… When I grew up he was my first hero. For me it was the most beautiful thing I could ever imagine; Maradona letting me play in the No.10. "When you are young, and playing and training with a player like that, you get so many insights and things that can improve the game. “A sentence as rigid as this?” he lamented. Join us down a Diego-themed rabbit hole... Peter Shilton on Diego Maradona should not have appeared in print the day after a legend's death. Deep trouble indeed. "One of the craziest but also the funniest was Faustino Asprilla at Parma. “I thought it was going to hit the corner flag but then it suddenly curled and went in. The difference that there was between Diego and the others, was similar to Ronaldo and the others. Born a Catholic, Diego Maradona said that meeting Pope John Paul II was a “disappointment”. I just turned round and there were 60,000 people going mad.”. "One day we were playing 11 v 11 on the pitch. This piece first appeared on The Totally Football Show.com, home of Golazzo, a podcast about the history of Italian football, presented by James Richardson. Tiers are all the rage right now, so how about we sort the greatest of all time into different echelons? He’d finish and go away to his house – no-one could get near him.”, “I knew I was in the presence of one of the best talents of all-time and it was a blessing for me,” Zola told talkSPORT a couple of years ago. We went to this disco, I was a little bit late as usual, the first thing I stepped in and saw Frode Grodas on top of a table half undressed, completely drunk and singing a Norwegian song! ‘I went skiing in Las Lenas, in Mendoza, and I enjoyed it, I enjoyed my first holidays for years. Gianfranco Zola has backed Lionel Messi to rise to the occasion of playing at Diego Maradona's old stomping ground when Barcelona take on Napoli at Stadio San Paolo. All Napoli players are upset as a friend is in deep trouble.”. He was and will always be unique. One Mailboxer wants your help in understanding why Diego Maradona was better than Thierry Henry... Liverpool will probably win it. This piece first appeared on The Totally Football Show.com, home of Golazzo, a … so Rob runs us through The Football Republic's Top 10 world class players who turned in to useless managers, featuring Gary Neville, Gianfranco Zola and Diego Maradona. "A lot of specific training for the defence, the midfield, the strikers, I thought he was on a different level.". I’ve learnt so much just from watching him.”, Maradona, despite his famously casual relationship with training, would stay behind after sessions to teach the young pretender how to take free-kicks and curl the ball in that Maradona way. Mourners started filing past the coffin of Diego Maradona in Buenos Aires as Argentina began three days of national mourning on Thursday following the death of the former national football team captain. Last updated on 15 July 202015 July 2020.From the section Premier League. His friendship with Diego Maradona also played a significant role in shaping his career. Gianfranco Zola, légende du football italien, a parlé de la grande rencontre entre Naples et le Barça de ce mardi et a souligné la soirée spéciale que vivra Leo Messi dans le temple de Diego Armando Maradona. "I used to watch every single movement, everything Diego used to do in training. “I was having a nightmare,” Zola said in 1997. Then I met Maradona. "Scoring the winner against England was such a big satisfaction for me (in a 1-0 win at Wembley in World Cup qualifying) - especially the day after when I went to the training ground and saw Dennis Wise's face!". He may have wanted to punish his club, but the knock-on impact was that Zola was given a chance to impress earlier than a callow youth from the third tier would usually have done. Gianfranco Zola had an unspectacular start to his professional career and plied his trade in Serie C till the age of 23. At Naples, Maradona was grooming an understudy, a young Sardinian player called Gianfranco Zola. You were always one step behind. Gianfranco Zola a encouragé Lionel Messi à se mettre en évidence sur l'ancien terrain de jeu de Diego Maradona lorsque Barcelone affrontera Napoli au Stadio San Paolo. While the tag of ‘Maradona’s successor’ followed Zola around, to the point where it was mentioned in essentially every article about him in the early days at Chelsea, it’s clear that those two years had a profound effect on him, about both on the pitch and about the life of a superstar off it. He was most recently the assistant manager of Chelsea. It was Gigi Riva. Gianfranco Zola managed West Ham United for 73 Premier League games during a turbulent time for the club. Soon we’re on the team bus. Gianfranco Zola’s presentation at Napoli, five years later, was slightly more low-key. A fantastic team-mate, always creating a good atmosphere.". - … “The things he did! He sits next to me, taps me on the leg and does a pumped up grimace that says “I am up for this.” Gianfranco Zola is over the way. Diego Maradona was a … When Gianfranco Zola met Diego Maradona… Date published: Thursday 10th October 2019 3:26. Even when he was doing his own laces!". "Mark Hughes came on and was unbelievable for us, after a few minutes we scored and there was electricity on the pitch, you could feel it was a special game. “Everything was going wrong for me. Listen to the latest MOTD Top 10 podcast with Gianfranco Zola. Former Chelsea and Italy star Gianfranco Zola is the latest Premier League legend to reveal all to Match of the Day's Top 10 podcast. You can subscribe here, and they will all be delivered straight to your favoured device. ‘After the Copa America I went fishing in Esquina, in Corrientes,’ Maradona wrote. Both were small men blessed with high technical skills and a low centre of gravity. Liverpool and Manchester United get all the praise while Arsenal get a complete shoeing. Here are just a few of the highlights that Maradona has left us with. ‘He was my substitute, usually, and on that Sunday we played together…We never imagined, neither one of us, nor anyone else, that it would be one of the last opportunities we would have to do so. For me, that Brazil team I still reckon is one of the best I've seen play. The two arrivals in many ways reflected their respective personalities, Maradona the extrovert (in public at least), living high and thriving on being the symbol of a team and city; Zola the introvert, the modest and unassuming type who once approached a group of men who were planning to kidnap him and asked if they wanted an autograph. He speaks Spanish and acts as translator. He was Maradona, yet with the team, he seemed just like an ordinary lad like the rest of us. Gianfranco Zola: The little genius who dropped jaws and opened minds. Yet it is Liverpool's to lose. “The list is qualified, not long,” he said in 1997, just after joining Chelsea, when asked which players he looked up to. It was very important, gave me such a boost, also with the supporters. "It was so hilarious to see him in that condition. The diminutive forward, dubbed 'Magic Box' for his quick feet and close control, played for Napoli and Parma before joining the Blues in 1996. It suits no-one to accept the Premier League title race is an illusion. It was unbelievable. It’s quite touching listening to Zola – or ‘Marazola’, as he became known – talk about those early days alongside El Diego. "One day, we all started training in the morning and we looked at each other and said 'Where is Tino?'. Obviously, it's Diego Maradona. But Maradona’s impact on the young Zola was not just due to his absence. The good news for Sam Allardyce is that not every team attacks with the Villa verve. "I cannot tell you how many times in training we had to stop and clap him. I wasn't supposed to play that game because I pulled my groin very badly, I managed to recover and then scored a goal that was very important.". "Although I played him only once in a friendly, the impression he gave me from watching him in that game was unbelievable. Six new episodes of Golazzo – including the Zola edition – will be released in the week commencing October 14. I always took big pride at being part of the Italian squad. "It's very easy to answer that question. In the end, we came from 2-0 down to beat Liverpool 4-2.". His influence has been terrific.”. But they might not. "When we played against Liverpool we were getting better as a team. – to hear that drug-taking was going on. They used t… "Brazil 2-3 Italy in the 1982 World Cup. “He was always fantastic to me and I will never forget the help he gave me,” Zola told the Daily Mirror in 1997. “He was the best player in the world and I learned so much just from watching him and training with him.”, ‘He paid really close attention to the things I did during training sessions,’ wrote Maradona, ‘and some of it stayed with him.’ That work helped Zola significantly in some early games for Napoli when he stood in for Maradona which, for a wet-behind-the-ears 23-year-old, just signed from the relative footballing backwaters, came with obvious and significant pressure. "The first goal in Serie A. “I have great esteem and respect for Diego,” he said. Some of the things that used to come out from him were incredible. The atmosphere was unbelievable. "It is difficult to compare to nowadays, in those years it was much harder to score goals.". If he went out for a walk, the whole town wanted to touch him, then many bad people began to stay near him. Le légendaire meneur de jeu de Chelsea, Gianfranco Zola, aujourd'hui entraîneur d'Al Arabi, donne son point de vue sur l'éternel débat Maradona-Messi. The preparation - we used to train in a certain way but when we went to him he had had this different approach, looking after every single detail on the pitch. He joined Gary Lineker and Jermaine Jenas to reflect on the moments and people that shaped his career. He didn’t behave at all like a football star. We only really ever saw him at training. "And that's before the … Maradona died on Wednesday at the age of 60 after a heart attack at his home in northern Buenos Aires.His body was taken to the Casa Rosada - the presidential palace - where up to one … From the section Premier League “It was very sad but I couldn’t help him,” Zola said in 1996. We said he must've fallen asleep, he wasn't in his house… this guy, he went to a party the night before and on the way back he just dropped on the side of the road. The immensely talented Zola scored a couple of goals to help Napoli win the 1990 Serie A title. ‘I didn’t know what was going on,’ wrote Maradona in his autobiography. I could hardly kick a ball straight.”, Then Zola got a chance, cutting in from the left, and he pulled back his right foot, remembering Maradona’s lessons. This transfer changed Zola’s professional football career completely. Think Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klopp. Luciano Moggi – the Ernst Stavro Blofeld of Italian football in the 1980s and 90s, always seeming to lurk in the background, the hand behind everything – had spotted this small kid with big hair playing for Torres in Sardinia and brought him over, at the same time as Massimo Mauro, who arrived from Juventus. Maradona arrives last. We couldn't believe the goal he scored.". Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian … When he did just that against Atalanta early in the season, things weren’t going well. Halfway through, Maradona peered up at the ceiling to witness some giddy fans banging on the skylight. “Platini captured my imagination as a boy. FF y était. Gianfranco Zola is preparing for his managerial debut with West Ham today by looking to one of the game's greats for inspiration. The story goes, as told on the upcoming Golazzo episode about Zola, that Ferlaino took one look at the skinny, 5ft 6 Sardinian signed from Serie C and told Moggi that he could present him to the media, while he would introduce the taller and more established Mauro. Later on, Maradona was the one I was using to look up to. "They used to play football in a way that nobody could. Gianfranco Zola OMRI OBE is an Italian football manager and former footballer who played predominantly as a forward. Indeed, Maradona arrived for the start of the season late and in…not the greatest shape. “One day when we played against Pisa…he made me play in the No.10 jersey and picked the No.9 for himself. “I learned a lot from him. Diego Maradona's kiss of the divine will not diminish over time. Read about our approach to external linking. I got picked for the drug test.’, Maradona claimed he was clean. MOTD Top 10 podcast: Gianfranco Zola on Diego Maradona, Ronaldo and life at Chelsea Last updated on 15 July 2020 15 July 2020 . It was Ronaldo, the Brazilian. After 45 minutes we were 2-0 down. I was very blessed, had very good coaches, but Sacchi was in those years a step ahead of everyone. He was very humble and down to earth. Try not to do anything stupid.’ I stayed still, like a doll, saying nothing…and in the end, I looked stupid.”, Zola signed for Napoli at the start of their second Scudetto season, but things were already starting to go slightly awry for Maradona. ”It is as if they have disqualified soccer for 15 months.” Maradona left Napoli to sign for Sevilla when the suspension ended, while Zola stayed and inherited the No.10 jersey for another couple of seasons, until financial problems at the club meant he was sold to Parma in 1993. "I'm walking next to a young Gianfranco Zola, Alemão, Careca and at the top of the pack was Maradona, who was absolutely amazing. “He was my idol,” Zola told our own James Richardson recently. Lord. It was a big blessing for me, because half of the player I am is down to him. It was a flash of lightning. L'actuel entraineur d'Al-Arabi (Qatar) raconte son histoire et évoque son futur de technicien. He described the season as a ‘nightmare’, with assorted incidents which all came to a head in March 1991, after a game against Bari. "They found him still asleep on the road. He didn’t behave at all like a football star.” The Greatest of All Time?