Garnero refuses to compare Zampedri with Correa, slams Messi-Maradona debate

Zampedri or Correa. Correa or Zampedri. The debate has been swirling around Chilean soccer for weeks, and Daniel Garnero, it seems, has run out of patience with the topic. Universidad Catolica's coach was blunt at his press conference: he has no intention of getting into that comparison, no matter how much reporters push him.

The context is clear. Fernando Zampedri is UC's all time leading scorer and the top goal scorer in the Liga de Primera, while Javier Correa, Colo Colo's forward, is coming off a stretch of scoring goals at an incredible clip. The million dollar question, who's better, has taken over the buildup to this Saturday's match against Everton in Vina del Mar. And Garnero didn't want to touch it.

Comparisons don't interest me in the slightest. I understand that from your side it's like a game, it entertains people, everyone gets to weigh in, everyone has an opinion. They're both excellent players. What can you say about Fernando for Catolica, he's one of the most important players in the club's history, and that alone puts him above the average player already.Daniel Garnero

The coach went a step further and brought up an example often used in Argentine soccer to poke fun at this kind of discussion: the endless Messi versus Maradona argument.

Correa is an excellent player, I know him from Argentine soccer... I'm not one for comparisons. It's the same as when people say "Messi or Maradona," those comparisons strike me as incredibly stupid.Daniel Garnero

That said, far from shutting the door on the discussion entirely, Garnero offered a different take on the phenomenon. To him, having two foreign players of that caliber fighting for the top of the scoring charts is, at bottom, good news for the local league.

As he put it, bringing in reinforcements of that level "raises the standard" of Chilean soccer when the academy isn't producing answers of its own. And he left the door open to a reasonable hope: that this jump in quality eventually starts showing up in players developed within the league itself.

Focus turns to Everton

With the forwards debate put to rest, Garnero shifted his attention to what actually concerns him: Saturday's match against Everton in Vina del Mar. The opponent is in good form, picking up points consistently, which means UC has to raise its level even further.

"Playing on the road has its own difficulties, but playing a team that's doing really well, picking up a lot of points, with a good system in place, is going to be even more complex, so we need to be sharp," the coach explained.

Garnero also stressed that his team has no intention of sitting back. Quite the opposite: the plan is to take the initiative and go toe to toe, or even push ahead, against an opponent arriving with momentum.

Universidad Catolica comes off a 2-1 win over O'Higgins, a result that mattered more for the confidence boost than for the quality of play, as the coach himself admitted. Now the goal is to grind out another three points, but with performance that's closer to what this squad is actually capable of.