Citizen of the world. Jorge Valdano, with a landscape of Buenos Aires in the background.
Jorge Valdano assured this Thursday that the coach Carlos Bilardo, with whom he won the World Cup Mexico 86ended with his “superman complex”. The TD made him believe that he could have come out of a compulsory three-year retirement after suffering from hepatitis to play the 1990 World Cup in Italy. But the dream ended abruptly and very badly.
“For most of those three years I was a patient undergoing treatment for chronic hepatitis, but once Bilardo came and said to me: ‘If you give me six months of your life, I’ll give you a World Cup.’ before starting. at the World Cup (Italy 1990) he tells me that I don’t see you; if I had a Superman complex, Bilardo would solve it for me with that decision “, explained the former footballer.
Valdano told the story in his participation in the third day of the Mexican Soccer League Summit 2022, a summit in which more than 25 world football figures give lectures on football industry trends. The speech of the former coach and manager of the real Madrid It was about the life of the players after the retirement.
Valdano, author of one of the goals with which Argentina beat Germany in the 1986 Mexico final. (Ap photo_carlo fumargalli)
The memory of the moment that changed his life
Valdano also recalled how his life transformed after the abrupt way he had to leave the fields. Months after lifting the cup in Mexico 1986 with Diego Armando Maradona, he was diagnosed with life-threatening hepatitis and ended his professional career in March 1987.
“Playing football is like prolonging childhood and who wants to leave childhood? We want to prolong that routine which is extraordinary, get up every day not too late to train in the open air, have the privilege of fame, receive a sum of money difficult to achieve in another business “.
How did you cope with your retirement?
Leaving the life of a footballer behind you is very difficult for many. They don’t know what to use their time for, they haven’t arrived prepared for that moment, or they simply don’t want to accept that they have to leave a stage in their life behind. In the case of Valdano it must be added that it was an unexpected retirement and at 31 years old, but he knew where to lean and how to continue.
The winner of three Spanish leagues as a Real Madrid player revealed that the decision to approach books opened doors for him to work as a sports commentator, which kept him close to football and facilitated the transition from retirement.
The Argentine received the Manuel Vazquez Montalban Sports Journalism Award in 2019. EFE / Alejandro García
In addition to being a media figure, Valdano also worked as a coach, manager, businessman and writer of more than twenty books, which he assured was due to the fact that he was always ready to prepare.
“The sporting career is short compared to what remains to be lived later. A paradigm shift must be made, that the emphasis is not placed only on professional activity, but that we think about the future, to help the former athlete to achieve a certain dignity when I stop playing football; in some cases education is essential, “he said.
Source: Clarin