‘Lionel Messi can be stopped like Maradona’

The man known for stopping Diego Maradona at the 1982 World Cup insists Chile can repeat the same feat against Lionel Messi in Sunday’s Copa America final.

Claudio Gentile man-marked Maradona out of Italy’s 2-1 victory over Argentina in 1982, and also applied the same aggressive tactics against Zico in their follow-up victory over Brazil.

Speaking about the magnitude of the task he was faced with, Gentile told Goal: ‘I was not even a candidate to mark Maradona that day.

‘The last time Marco Tardelli tried he gave away a penalty and Gabriele Oriali he could not keep up.
‘In principle, I would’ve been up against Mario Kempes, who I’d played against in 1978.

‘I spent three days watching videos of Maradona and concluded that the only chance we had was to isolate him from the game, make him a stranger to his team-mates.’


Argentina has waited 23 years for a trophy and could get revenge against Chile for last year’s defeat in the Copa America final.

Messi has been in fine form throughout the tournament but Gentile claims it is ‘not impossible’ for Chile to stop the Argentine as he’s ‘a step below’ Maradona.

‘He had the opportunity in Brazil [at the World Cup] but it was not decisive in the final,’ said Gentile.

‘But I hope he succeeds and enlarge further the debate.’