Cesar Luis Menotti, world champion and coach of the 1978 Argentina national team, has died.

Cesar Luis Menotti, Argentina’s first world champion coach, has died aged 85. This news was confirmed this Sunday by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). During his career, the coach also managed Barcelona and Atlético Madrid.

“The Argentine Football Association is sad to announce the death of Cesar Luis Menotti, current director of national teams and former world champion coach of Argentina. Farewell, dear Flaco!” says the official AFA account.

Menotti was one of the main figures in Argentine football, not only because he was the coach dedicated to the World Cup for the first time, but also as the greatest exponent of one of the styles that marked the before and after in the history of the Albiceleste.

Menotti currently serves as National Director of Selection for AFA. The coach also managed Argentina’s two main teams, Boca and River, and also coached the Mexico national team.

Born in Rosario (province of Santa Fe), “Flaco” Menotti was one of the most important people in the history of Argentine football and was responsible for the Albiceleste embroidering their first star on the chest at the World Cup organized in Argentina in 1978.

Menotti was in serious health condition and just over a month ago was hospitalized for 12 days due to “severe anemia”, for which he underwent surgery, which he successfully completed and was then medically discharged. at home, reports elDiarioAR.

The position of the iconic Argentine coach was complicated by thrombophlebitis, and physical weakness extended his stay in the hospital until April 12.

Flaco had a history of health problems last August when he suffered internal bleeding from a fall at home, which also required a period of hospitalization until he recovered.

This afternoon, the AFA confirmed his death midway through the League Cup final between Estudiantes de la Plata and Vélez and ordered a minute’s silence at half-time of the match played at the Estadio Madre de Ciudades in Santiago. Estero.