First big test at their temporary home for boys from the Lane Ginola: Spurs will get no Wemb-glee
MAURICIO POCHETTINO has spoken for the first time about his days as a starry-eyed teenager sharing a room with football legend Diego Maradona. And the Tottenham boss has revealed how the World Cup legend with God-like status in Argentina helped to influence his own life and career. Having roomed with the world’s most famous player just months before the 1994 USA World Cup – when the infamous ‘Hand of God’ star was sent home in disgrace for failing a drugs test – Pochettino had a unique insight into the madness of Maradona’ss world. Maradona’s spell as s mentor to the young Pochettino ended crazilyy with a shooting and a s u s p e n d e d prison sentence for the troubledd South American star. But Pochettino insists he knows the real Maradona – and that is why he e will always be hiss football hero. His eyes lightt up when talkingg about memoriess of his early dayss with Newell’s Old d Boys when he wass Maradona’s room- mate on n a pre- s eason n fitness camp at t the Argentinian seasideid resort of Mar del Plata. “It’s difficult in English to express myself and my emotion about Maradona,” said Pochettino, who faces champions Chelsea today in Spurs’ first Premier League game at Wembley. “I think I was one of the most happiest people in the world when I met him for the first time. Because not only was it a dream come true – it was more than a dream. “I will remember it always because I love football and Maradona, it was more than this – more than everything. As a boy growing up there was always a big picture of him on my wall where I slept. Every day and every night I saw him. Then, when I was 21, and with the first-team at Newell’s, Maradona joined us. They made me his room-mate.
“It was impossible for me to sleep. I slept with one eye open all night just looking at him. It’s an emotional feeling for me when I think about Maradona.”
Although Maradona’s career descended into chaos with cocaine abuse and scrapes with authority blighting his latter days in the game, Pochettino’s judgement on the iconic star is from a different perspective.
He added: “I love him because I knew the real Maradona. Not the one o other people see.
“We see him on the pitch a and then there is his im image. His image was defined by the craziness around him.
“Outside it was crazy, we know that. But I promise you if he arrived h here and opened the door, w we’d all be in love with him. His energy, his p personality.
“He’s a person that when he’s with you he makes you feel the best.
“He’s so careful about th the people around him, his fr friends and team-mates. I le learned from him about h how to manage people.
“It is clear he helped his im image a little bit. But I a always keep Diego in p private in my mind or just playing football – not the other stuff.
“That’s sometimes difficult because my last memory of him at Newell’s was the day he started shooting the journalists in Argentina.
“We were at pre-season in Mar del Plata and on this night, because he loved basketball, he went to the final of the Argentina Conference.
“In the morning, I woke up and he wasn’t in bed. I went to breakfast and the manager called me over and asked where he was. I said I didn’t know.
“When we came back for lunch after training still nobody knew where Maradona was.
“Then as we ate lunch we saw the news on TV – Diego shoots journalists in Buenos Aires, 400km away.” TOTTENHAM legend David Ginola has major concerns over his old club playing at Wembley this season and fears it could wreck their campaign. Spurs play their first Premier League ‘home game’ against Chelsea at the national stadium today, as construction work continues on their new ground. Ginola (left) had three seasons at Tottenham between 1997 and 2000, but believes it will be impossible to re-create the special White Hart Lane atmosphere he loved at Wembley. Ginola, now 50, said: “It will be completely different. I have concerns about it because it is not the same when you have been playing at White Hart Lane and then you have to play at Wembley.
“We saw it last year when Spurs played there against Monaco in the Champions League. They were not on top of it. People don’t realise how important it is to play on your home soil and home ground.
“It is your home, your people, your own fans. Even if you have 90,000 watching at Wembley, the players will not have the same feeling.
“As a footballer the most important thing is to feel things. It is about what you feel in your mind. It is not about your feet and having the ball, it is about how you feel in your soul to play a match.
“How are you going to give the fans what they deserve if you don’t feel good about the place where you are playing?”