Carlos Menem and Maradona in the review meeting (Ricardo Seppi/Getty)
Carlos knew BilardoCoach Argentina national team The former president, with his decisions and firm stances, did not escape even the former president of Argentina, Carlos Menem, who has Syrian origins.
The story happened on July 21, 1989, when the Argentine national team played an exhibition match at the “Velez” stadium in front of 40 thousand spectators.
The Albiceleste team was mostly made up of the world champions in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, including Diego Maradona, however the team leader was Carlos Menem, who fought this confrontation a few days following taking office as Argentina’s president.
The opposing team included a group of famous footballers at the time, such as Carlos Ischia, Hugo Orlando Gatti and others.
The Argentine president played as a midfielder, with the number 5, carried the captaincy, and made some dribbles that showed his good style of football.
However, the difference in his performance with real footballers was clear, for this reason, what happened to Pedro Trujillo, a member of Menem’s team, who revealed the incident in statements to “TYC” channel, saying: “Bilardo (Argentina coach at the time) shouted ) in my face so as not to give it to Menem. He did not want to lose to the rest of the Argentine players who were not called up for the national team.”
He added with a laugh: “Moneim did not say anything, but I imagine he heard. We gave him the ball a little, but he lost it and some attacks came on us.”