Idol of the champions! Valderrama, Amunike, Desailly all grew up with Maradona as their role model

As a player, Jorge Campos wore multicolour outfits inspired by the surfing culture of his hometown - Acapulco, Mexico. Last week, at the DY Patil stadium, the former Mexican goalie was in a plain white polo. As if that wasn't funny enough, he also said, "Who is Maradona?"

Of course, the 50-year-old Campos was joking. It was a tongue-in-cheek response to Maradona being named by Campos's illustrious compatriots - who sat beside him - as their childhood role model.

Campos, Carlos Valderrama, Fernando Morientes, Emmanuel Amunike and Marcel Desailly were in Navi Mumbai to play a five-a-side exhibition match against an Indian team. The game was to mark an upcoming international junior event in India. The international stars won 5-4, but not before a crackling two-goal performance by Ngangom Bala Devi, the livewire Indian women's player from Manipur.

Afterwards, the stars showered and dressed in identical white polos, looking like executives at a company golf event. And then they addressed a press conference. When asked who their idols were when they were juniors, three of the five named Maradona.


The international stars.

Valderrama, the Colombian midfielder remembered for his effortless skill and his frizzy yellow Tina Turner-style warbonnet, spoke in Spanish about Maradona and his exploits in "Mehico" (the 1986 Mexico World Cup). Tournament director Javier Ceppi translated his reply.

"Diego Maradona not only scored goals, but also organised his team," said Valderrama, the crown of his hair smaller but still intact, and sporting beads around his neck and wrists. "He also played in a tough era. It was not easy what he accomplished in Mexico."

Amunike, the winger who locked horns for Nigeria against Maradona's Argentina in the 1994 World Cup, said, "I first saw him in the 1986 World Cup. The day after he scored the famous solo goal against England, we played on the street and everyone wanted to be Maradona."

Desailly was the most successful player in the group, having won the World Cup and Euro Cup for France and Champions League titles with Marseille and Milan. Now the 49-year-old is a television analyst. He too named the ultimate No. 10 as an inspiration.

"There was a real history to Maradona," Desailly said. "Things were expected from him right from the time he was a child, like Neymar. He is a very important part of football."

Morientes, who won the Champions League with Real Madrid and was a feared striker for Spain, Liverpool and Monaco, looked up to the creative Dane Michael Laudrup in his formative years. "He was my idol. I liked everything about him," Morientes said.

Campos, rated by some as Mexico's best goalkeeper, was a fan of Dutch striker Marco van Basten. What? No goalkeeper? Campos, who was also known for his habit of charging out of goal and playing as striker, shook his head. And then the man who, apart from saving goals also scored 34 of them, said, "I'm a forward."