There was a line to talk to him. In your office in Buenos Aires or by phone. Analysts and even coaches like Guardiola turned to César Luis Menotti as an oracle. Not to know what would happen but why things happened. Not in search of answers and truths, but for reflection. Because he was respected more than for his triumphs for his lucidity.
Despite the number of requests, when Menotti told you yes, it was yes. Type of word, of principles. Good heart. He showed his left because he treated even the smallest journalist as an equal. With him, time was truly money. If you recorded the talk, you had a hard time choosing what to discard. If you took the statements by hand, the problem was following his infinite verb with the pen.
Menotti was a columnist for La Vanguardia in the 2010 World Cup. “Spain, despite the defeat, did not ignore its identity against Switzerland,” he defended after the team’s debut. A month later, Spain was champion in South Africa.
This newspaper turned to him again in 2015 after Argentina went for Messi’s jugular over the lost final of the Copa América. After reaching the 2014 World Cup final, Leo had just won the treble with Barça and lost to the host… on penalties. “You have to take care of Leo, not criticize him. Let them take care of him, because if not, we will not go to the next World Cup,” was his message to the detractors.
Two days before the final in Qatar, we agreed to an interview for the day after.
“Whatever happens, eh,” we warned him.
“Whatever happens,” he agreed.
When the day came, he answered his cell phone on the street. “There is traffic. “I’ll be home in ten minutes,” he apologized. She wanted calm. In the talk he was full of praise for Messi. “He can play until he is 40. He has a neighborhood, a street and a corner. And in football he runs, walks, jogs and accelerates but what he never stops is thinking.”
And he revealed the possible secret of that success of Scaloni’s albiceleste. “This team is committed to a way of playing and not hitting balls. With it, representativeness was once again achieved. They had an absolute guarantee to lose. Maybe that is precisely why they won.”
