We talk to Ralph Hasenhuettl, the man from Austria who coached RB Leipzig to a second place finish in the Bundesliga in their debut season, and has set in motion a framework that will enrich German football for years to come.
Stadio San Paolo, situated in the western suburb of Fuorigrotta in Naples, became the third-largest stadium in Italy after undergoing extensive renovations for the 1990 World Cup. Almost as if the football gods knew that it would be the scene of one of that tournament’s most talked about games and not even because of the football.
This was when Diego Armando Maradona still plied his trade for SSC Napoli. By single-handedly leading them to their maiden Serie A title in 1986-87 and another just a month before the World Cup began, he had become the messiah for this underdeveloped region of southern Italy whose complicated relationship with the nation and especially with the more prosperous regions in the north (represented by Juventus and the two Milan clubs) needs no introduction.
On July 30, 1990, after the Argentine delegation landed in Naples following a victory against the former Yugoslavia, Maradona, fully aware of the sociocultural implications, and how the football culture and mentality of the locals breeds and worships their heroes, asked for the support of the Neopolitans against their own country, calling the semi-final his “home match”.