Abu Dhabi: A smiling, trim and tanned Jorge Burruchaga appears the epitome of contentment as he relaxes on a sofa in the St Regis Hotel foyer on the Abu Dhabi Corniche.
And while his hair may be grey, he bears no other vestiges of his 54 years, leading his aide to quip: “He’s the Argentinian George Clooney.”
Burruchaga is ostensibly still basking in the afterglow of his finest moment when, in the dazzling Mexico sunshine, he scored the decisive goal in the 1986 Fifa World Cup final as Argentina beat West Germany 3-2.
“Of course, it was the most important goal of my life and I will be proud all my life,” he tells Gulf News in an exclusive interview after helping his former teammate Diego Maradona open his new restaurant Cafe Diego in the UAE capital.
Few World Cup-winning goals have been scored with the unwavering assuredness of Burruchaga’s strike in the Azteca Stadium.
Latching on to Maradona’s cushioned pass, Burruchaga galloped forward and slid the ball under goalkeeper Harald Schumacher as if he were a schoolboy in a playground.
Can Burruchaga, who is searching for a job in management after leaving Argentinian Primera Division side Atletico de Rafaela last year, articulate the elation he felt?
“It’s always impossible to describe with words,” he says, speaking through a translator. “Maybe some people say it’s like touching the sky with your hand. Only the birth of my four children can compare to scoring the last goal in a World Cup.”
But for most football fans, Burruchaga’s dramatic intervention six minutes before time was vastly overshadowed by the incomparable Maradona’s virtuoso performances in the tournament.
The diminutive genius ensured legendary status by scoring five times, including a goal-of-the-century effort in the 2-1 quarter-final victory over England.
And the Argentina captain was as monumentally influential off the pitch as he was on it, according to Burruchaga.
“He was a unique teammate and 100 per cent a leader inside the pitch and outside the pitch. It was not only about his skills, but he was the first to run to help us inside the pitch like we helped him.
“A very important memory I have of ‘86 was of after the [West Germany] game, we had dinner in an Argentinian restaurant in Mexico and Maradona was speaking about himself to the rest of the team. ‘If I am marked or covered, don’t give me the ball, but if Burruchaga is marked or covered by a lot of players, of course give him the ball because he can solve the hardest situation and Burruchaga’s responsibility in our team is to fix hard situations and to be my second [lieutenant]’.
“That was great for me [to hear]. My function in the team was exactly that: to help Diego to find the space to develop his activity.”
Does it rankle that some pundits claim Maradona single-handedly won the World Cup?
“If it was so easy for one player to win a World Cup, why hasn’t [Lionel] Messi won any? Why didn’t Maradona win the World Cup in 1982 when they had a great national team too?
“Every team in the world needs 10 players and a goalkeeper to make a team. It’s not true to say that Brazil are the winner of five World Cups because they had Pele.”
Nowadays, Argentina boast Maradona’s successor in Messi and a clutch of other stellar talents in Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain and Angel Di Maria.
But Burruchaga bristles when asked whether the current crop are superior to his vintage.
“I don’t think they are better than the 1986 players. Maybe they are better for people who didn’t see the 1986 team. In ‘86, we had amazing players, all of them leaders in their teams.
“Maybe the difference was only a few of us were playing outside of Argentina. In 1986, teams in Europe could only have two players from outside. Right now, anybody can go to Europe.
“The ‘86 players have won a World Cup and these players [haven’t]. I am pretty sure the ‘86 players were better.”
And Argentina are struggling to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, let alone harbour hopes of emulating the class of ‘86.
La Abiceleste lie fifth in the 10-team South American qualifying group with six games remaining and only the top-four teams guaranteed automatic progression.
“Argentina is in a very hard situation. We still have ahead some very important games, very hard games: Bolivia away, Ecuador away, Chile at home.
“Argentina are not performing well but the head coach [Gerardo Martino] has not found a team to improve Argentina. We have some great individual players and maybe the best in the world right now in Messi, but he needs to help his teammates and they need to help Messi build a team.
“Argentina still haven’t found a real team.”
Burruchaga believes Argentina are also suffering the fallout from having lost three finals in a row — at the 2015 and 2016 Copa America (both times to Chile on penalties) and the 2014 World Cup.
“Argentina maybe still have got some mental trauma after three final losses in a row. The problem is mental; they need to change their mentality and problems with penalties to get the results we need quickly, because the situation is very dangerous.”
Burruchaga’s friend Maradona faced his own perilous situation when he suffered a heart attack in 2004 after a long-standing drug addiction. He has also battled with obesity.
But Maradona appeared in fine shape at the Cafe Diego opening at Nation Galleria, much to the delight of Burruchaga.
“Diego never hurt anybody himself — only himself. And now we are very happy because he is really fine.”
Argentina’s modern-day maestros would do well to learn from their past masters’ team spirit and survival instincts if they are to keep their World Cup dream alive.