Maradona ‘dreams of’ Barcelona job

MADRID - Agence France-Presse

Argentine legend and former Barcelona star Diego Maradona has revealed he dreams of coaching his compatriot Lionel Messi at the Catalan club.

“My little dream would be one day to coach Leo at Barca,” Maradona told Marca in an interview published yesterday.

Maradona, world champion in 1986, has already coached Messi during a two-year spell in charge of the national side culminating in a disappointing 2010 World Cup.

The 52-year-old meanwhile defended Messi, who has come in for some rare criticism in recent games - including a Champions League loss at AC Milan and a pair of reverses to Real Madrid. “I don’t think you have the right to ‘kill’ Messi on the basis of two poor games given all his goals across the season,” said Maradona.

Although Barça has a healthy lead atop La Liga, its 2-0 loss to the Milanese threatens to end this season’s European ambitions and Maradona said he regretted the club’s mini slump and also the departure of Pep Guardiola as coach at the end of last season.