Louis Van Gaal is ‘the devil’, says Maradona
United thought they had pulled off one of the best deals of the summer transfer window then they signed Falcao on a season-long loan from Monaco.
The Colombian came to United with an impressive goalscoring record but, eight months later, he has found the net just four times for the club.
Falcao has been on the bench for the last five games and that has not gone down well with Maradona.
The former Argentina star last night criticised Van Gaal for his handling of the two-time Ballon d’Or nominee.
“Van Gaal is not a nice guy,” Maradona said when asked about the Dutchman’s handling of Falcao.
“Van Gaal is closer to the devil than anything.”
Van Gaal for his part has been dreaming of claiming his first Manchester derby win this weekend.
Van Gaal lost in his first meeting with Manchester City last November when Sergio Aguero scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory for the Blues.
That was Manchester United’s fourth successive loss to their neighbours, and Van Gaal is determined to avoid another reverse when Manuel Pellegrini’s men come to Old Trafford tomorrow.
“I dream of it, every player shall dream of the victory,” the United boss said.
During his nine months in charge, assistant manager Ryan Giggs and club chef Mike Donnelly have taught the Dutchman about United’s rivalries. But if he needed a reminder of the enmity between City and United he got it this week from his wife Truus, whose hairdresser is very much a blue.
“I am not so often in the city, but when I am there, the people are talking about the derby and even when I come home my wife is saying the things they have told her about this derby,” Van Gaal said. “My wife’s hairdresser is a Manchester City fan so there is a lot of discussion between these two women.
“I like it. You play football for the fans and I hope we can give our fans the victory.
“All the players understand the meaning of a victory and I know it also.”
Victory would strengthen United’s grip on third as they would be four points clear of their ‘noisy neighbours’.
“When you win, third place is then reachable and a month ago nobody was thinking about that, besides me, of course,” said the Dutchman.
Van Gaal is not concerned about United’s recent dire record against their opponents.
“That’s not my history,” he said. ”What can I say? We have lost 1-0. That is my history, the last game we played against them and we had a red card in the 39th minute, I believe.”
Chris Smalling was the man who was dismissed at the Etihad Stadium.
Van Gaal will remind his players they must stay on the pitch this weekend.
He added: “In such games always you have to control your aggression and we did not do that then so I hope we have learned from that.”
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