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#1 Andoni Goikoetxea on Diego Maradona
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Most of you might have heard of the term, “Butcher of Bilbao.” It was the nickname given to Andoni Goikoetxea after this tackle against Diego Maradona. The former Athletic defender had a reputation of being a brutal defender who never hesitated to put in vile tackles.
And one of them was against the Argentine legend, Diego Maradona. Now, of course, we all know how good Maradona was. Even if you never saw him play, you definitely can’t have escaped the articles that sing laurels on him.
He was so that defenders doubled, nah, tripled… quadrupled on him in order to contain his surge. Against Athletic in 1983, the task of marking the legendary Argentine was assigned to Goikoetxea – who took no prisoners.
As you can see in the video, the severity of the tackle was so much that Maradona damaged his ankle and instantly a developed a hate towards Goikoetxea. Quite strangely, though, the referee didn’t show Goikoetxea even a yellow for this unforgivable offence.
Fun fact: a year later, in the final of the Copa del Rey, the animosity between the clubs due to this incident turned into a brutal post-game fight that saw Diego Maradona kneeing the senses out of Athletic player, Miguel Sola, before being shot down himself by – guess who? – the Butcher of Bilbao with a flying kick.
