Maradona: "Sampaoli called me to work with him to Sevilla"
The Argentine legend criticised the Albiceleste coach for talking "hot air" and "believing that he's more than he is".
Diego Armando Maradona turned 57 years old on Monday, but the mythical Argentine player is showing no signs of mellowing.
Maradona slams Argentine coach Sampaoli
In an interview with Argentine newspaper Clarín, the 1986 World Cup winner gave a bristling answer to a question about current national team manager Jorge Sampaoli.
"With people who are false, mediocre, and believe that they're bigger than they really are, I'll never work well alongside them."
Maradona also claimed that Sampaoli offered him a role at Sevilla:
"I remember that I was in Croatia watching the final of the Davis Cup, and Sampaoli rang me to get us to work together on a project at Sevilla."
Sampaoli took charge of the Andalucian club for the 2016-17 season, leading them to fourth in LaLiga and qualification for the Champions League, before replacing Edgardo Bauza as the manager of Argentina. Sources close to Sampaoli deny that the phone call took place.
"I would cut off an arm to play for Boca again"
Although Maradona emerged from the well-respected youth system at Argentinos Juniors (nicknamed "El Semillero del Mundo" or the "Seedbed of the World"), he retains strong feelings for the second club of his career, Boca Juniors. The No.10 played for Boca across two seperate spells and has a corporate box on the half-way line at the club's cacophonous Bombonera stadium.
In another birthday interview with OIé on Tuesday, Maradona admitted that he would "cut off an arm" to play for Boca Juniors again, adding that "to play in those colours one more time doesn't have a price".
