The back and forth in Naples is only the latest chapter in a liaison that is as successful as it is turbulent. Quarrels and mending: story of two giants in their respective roles who were able to complement each other
While wet rags were flying at Maradona, Antonio Conte mischievously defined Beppe Marotta as “the manager who makes the escalation”, a surprising climb from CEO to president of the team who now wants to unseat the tricolor from his Napoli barricadero. That manager, however, is also the man who once assigned him the job of a lifetime in Turin and who then wanted him back in Milan at any cost. If that wasn’t enough, he was often the target to bomb, both when they lived in the same trench and now that they found themselves in rival camps. In general, a reference to argue with, periodically and furiously. Once a friend, then suddenly an enemy, then an ally again, and now a sworn enemy. In the odi et amo between Conte and Marotta – an emotional ups and downs that has been going on for 15 years – another episode was added yesterday, one of the most theatrical because it has become a public spat. In private, in Maradona’s belly, the two also met and greeted each other quickly, without fuss and with politeness, but the relationship between them was at its lowest point long before the Mariani case. It wasn’t always this way, however.