What can you tell us about Bochini then, anto?
Exceptional player. A midfield maestro who could go on and score but mostly made others look formidable. Much (and I mean MUCH) better and more mobile than Riquelme, not too different from Maradona except in that he lacked that solo-run explosion. He had the vision and ability to create space, dribble his way out of trouble and play the perfect pass.
Your time will be well spent if you google some videos, an absolute joy to watch. It's a crying shame the world didn't get to see more of him.
Why?
-1 Club player: spent his entire career at Independiente. To this day Independiente is the team to have won the Libertadores most times (7), he won 4 of those for them.
-Menotti: his teams were more about tactical discipline and workrate than irrepressible creativity and invention.
-Maradona: his rise meant Bochini was surplus to requirements. If only their ages had been inverted, Bochini would have surely taken over seamlessly from Diego.
Personally, I always wondered what Argentina would have looked like with both on the pitch.
Maradona probably did as well. Bochini was his idol, his inspiration as a player, to the extent Maradona demanded that Bilardo take him to Mexico even if he wasn't planning on playing him. With the semifinal against Belgium running out at 2-0, Maradona demanded he was played. Burruchaga made way and Maradona came over to the sideline to receive him, "Dibuje Maestro" (draw master, by draw meaning surprising everyone with his play).
In fact what happened was Bochini wasn't at all match fit and Maradona persisted in trying to get him involved and scoring, even when he should be keeping the ball and doing stuff himself. It actually made Bochini look bad (he was the master of one-two, but over anything else he was effective, he wasn't expecting what Maradona did because it just didn't make sense and there were better courses of action).
In a nutshell, it was a very sorry sight and probably supported Bilardo not playing them both: Maradona was in awe of him and would be prone to completely forgetting the point of the game (scoring and winning) in his attempts to link-up and create magical stuff.
Cracking player. Won't gather much by way of votes, but he is up there with anyone drafted so far. Could have easily been a first round pick. No, that's wrong, he would and should have been.
