Boniek: “Guardiola has killed football; I like the way Lazio play”
Zibì Boniek, a former Poland international who played for Juventus and Roma and is currently UEFA vice-president, focuses in particular on Pep Guardiola and Diego Armando Maradona in an interview with Corriere dello Sport.
On Guardiola: "I have great respect for Guardiola, but he has killed football. His football is you to me, me to you, you to me, me to you. We go to the right, come back to the left, and by the end of the match you've made 1,788 passes. I don't enjoy it. I like a team that plays vertically, a team that tries to score. I like teams that go forward. This year, for example, I like the way Lazio play, precisely because they play vertically and take risks. Or Frosinone: they risk conceding three, but they could score four or five. Roma play the same way. You often find Mancini, who is a centre-back, or Hermoso in the opposition penalty area. I love football where you try to score in the simplest way possible, with few passes. Few passes, but quick ones. That's why I think slowness is now banished from football. Slow players don't cut it today. And passing the ball backwards is something that kills you."
On Maradona and the comparison with Lionel Messi: "They are both extraordinary talents, but there is a fundamental difference: Diego played in an era of football when there were a lot of fouls; Lionel plays in a world where you can't touch anyone on the pitch. The treatment defenders gave Maradona is not comparable to what happens today. Diego is unique, even though he had an extremely complicated life. If you ask me to choose, I always choose Maradona. I'll tell you a story: once, we were playing Juventus-Napoli. At the end of the first half, we went into the dressing room and someone said: 'We need to give Maradona a couple of hammer blows because he's doing whatever he wants.' We went back out and nobody touched him because we admired him too much. He was simply too good. Diego was a good lad, too, and very likeable. I'm in love with him."
