LIVE – Giordano: "Maradona told me: 'I'm the best Italian player I've ever played with.'"

Bruno Giordano, former Lazio and Napoli striker, speaks freely: he calls Maradona the greatest of all time and quotes a phrase attributed to him by Diego—"the greatest Italian player I've ever played with"—as well as recalling Napoli's first Scudetto as "a story that will live on forever." The former center forward also recounts his transition from false nine to center forward after Chinaglia's departure and celebrates the spirit of the Lazio squad led by Maestrelli.

Anecdotes abound: Giordano recounts an episode during a training camp in Ascoli/Colle San Marco, when "only Pulici and I didn't have guns" while other teammates practiced on a wrecked car. He also returns to the betting scandal: he was acquitted by the ordinary courts but held in custody by the sports justice system for several years, a period that cost him a chance to play at the 1982 World Cup—a tournament Italy won after Paolo Rossi's return. The interview was reported by several national newspapers, and these statements can be traced back to Giordano himself.