I've been around some very famous people, but no one has the effect Maradona has; people tremble in his presence.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The myth about me as a footballer has grown: I am now the lost Maradona of Norway.
What differences were there between Maradona and Platini?
Disinterring famous people has become a kind of sport in the Hispanic world. Before Cervantes, it happened to Evita, Che Guevara, Federico Garcia Lorca, and Pablo Neruda.
I knew Manuel Pellegrini from my time in Spain. I'd only heard good things about him, that he was someone who instilled the confidence in his players to go out and play good, attacking football.
A friend at school was always being laughed at because his father emptied dustbins for a living. But those who laughed worshipped famous footballers. This is an example of our topsy-turvy view of 'success.' Who would we miss most if they did not work for a month, the footballer or the garbage collector?
I think that people who are famous tend to be underdeveloped in their humanity skills.
I'd always admired the intellectuals who had made the transition into politics - Mario Vargas Llosa in Peru, Vaclav Havel in the Czech Republic, Carlos Fuentes in Mexico - but I knew that many of them had failed, and in any event, I wasn't exactly in their league.
Sometimes I think that when people become famous, there's a public perception that they are not human beings any more. They don't have feelings; they don't get hurt; you can act and say as you like about them.
There are good players, there are great players, and there are those few at the pinnacle - the Peles, Cruyffs and Maradonas.
I am Maradona, who makes goals, who makes mistakes. I can take it all, I have shoulders big enough to fight with everybody.