Top 40 Mario Kempes Quotes

The only ones who would be happy if Messi doesn’t go to the World Cup would be Maradona fans because, that way, they can keep saying that he’s the best.

I’d love to work in Argentina but there aren’t any possibilities to manage there. The managers always remain the same. They just swap clubs once in a while.

I think players of the national team are not entitled to make an opinion about who is making the team and who is not. At least in my days it was like that.

I couldn’t be bothered with the whole shaving-every-couple-of-days routine.

You can put the players on the pitch but they always move and systems change. I think, though, that Messi has to be a special case and that the other nine outfield players should support him. But one player on his own is not going to win you the World Cup.

I have worked in so many countries over the years that I must have moved house about 20 times.

What’s the problem that people have here in Spain with Maradona and Messi? They spend the whole day comparing them.

It’s not easy to carry forward the national team because you have a whole country behind you. But I would be willing to take charge of the Argentina national team.

Messi owes something to Argentina. He knows that.

Lautaro, for a couple of years now, has proven to be a great No.9. He’s shown it at Inter and Argentina.

You don’t get called up to the national team because you tell good jokes, you are funny, you are handsome or because you are Messi’s friend. You are called up because you have a role at your given club and you have personality.

Machines can break down under pressure. But so can humans.

All teams starting the season should aim to be as high as possible and Valencia are no exception.

I wasn’t a No. 9, as everyone believes today. Every time I played as a No. 9, I failed.

I love travelling and if my wife and my daughter are with me – I am happy.

If you ask me who I would have liked to play with, I would say that with Messi.

Sometimes it is not bad to be scared.

Good players can do well everywhere and Soldado is a good footballer.

This is one thing every coach can take from Menotti. If you win the World Cup, no one can criticize you.

I am just one of many who have played their part in Argentina’s football history.

Argentina have always produced very good players, and mine is just another name on the list.

The game was different then, when I used to play. The ball ran more than the players and to some extent there was greater technical skill.

Suarez and Neymar play the way they play because of him. They are great players but they are made greater by Messi.

For any tournament to succeed, you need the big guns to fire.

Argentina has never been able to convince itself that it can win in Brazil. For some reason we have always struggled.

Missing the 1978 World Cup made Maradona an even better player, as he showed on the following year at the Youth World Cup, and he never looked back.

In one game I’d have defenders completely wiping me out, but three days later I’d have my chance to get revenge. What had happened a few days earlier would never affect my confidence.

They say Maradona is God, but there’s only one God!

I wasn’t your average striker because I didn’t play as an out-and-out centre-forward.

What Guardiola has done as coach of Barcelona is really spectacular.

You cannot give the ball to Messi all the time.

Argentina is a powerhouse in soccer.

Clearly finals are one-off games and they always depend on starting well in order to impose yourself on the game.

When Diego won the World Cup in 1986, perhaps he had the luck that Messi has not had. Diego had very good teammates and things went well.

A World Cup without Argentina and without Messi would be a catastrophe.

I will tell you another thing, we Argentines criticise Messi because we are specialists in criticising what is ours.

It is very difficult to play beside Messi and whoever understands it any other way is a fool.

On the field Icardi always does a good job, what he does off it, I don’t care at all. What I do care is what he does for my team on the pitch.

Even Cristiano Ronaldo has developed from a selfish goalscorer into someone who likes to pass the ball.

Now winning is more important and it trumps the way you achieve it. Unfortunately for soccer, the style doesn’t matter so much.