Carlos Bilardo's health worsens: "He no longer recognizes anyone."

Carlos Salvador Bilardo's health has worsened considerably. The former Argentina national team coach "no longer recognizes anyone, except sometimes he mistakes his daughter for his wife," his friend and former assistant Miguel Lemme said in a local radio interview on Tuesday.

Bilardo, the coach who led Argentina to its second World Cup title in Mexico in 1986 (after the one won in 1978 under César Luis Menotti), suffers from Hakim-Adams syndrome , or normal pressure hydrocephalus, which causes progressive cognitive deterioration.

In that context, Lemme stated that Bilardo, 87, has trouble recognizing other people , including his own family.

"The illness he has isn't recoverable, but I always see him doing well ," commented his longtime collaborator, referring to the medical and family support surrounding the former technical director.

Lemme, a footballer with the Estudiantes club that won the Argentine championship in 1982 under the command of "El Doctor," declared with sorrow: "I'm not going to leave him. There's no way I'm going to let go of his hand, just like he didn't let go of mine. I used to go visit him Monday through Friday, now I go three times a week because it hurts."

"I always said that the day he doesn't recognize me, I'm done. But he's stronger than me. I can't let him go," Lemme confessed.

Carlos Bilardo is one of the most important coaches in the history of Argentine football, with an extensive career that included, with Diego Armando Maradona on the field, the 1986 World Cup, after beating the then West Germany (FRG) in Mexico, and the final of the same tournament in 1990 in Italy, when his team lost to the German team.

As a footballer, he played for the best Estudiantes de La Plata team, which won the Copa Libertadores three times in a row (1968, 1969 and 1970).

Since the onset of his illness, which was diagnosed in 2017, members of those World Cup squads have often visited Bilardo at his home in Buenos Aires.

The relationship between Bilardo and Maradona was always very close, so the former coach's family and friends decided not to immediately inform him about the star's death , which occurred in November 2020, so as not to affect his health.

However, after a few months they told him because 'Narigón' noticed that Diego had stopped visiting him or calling him on the phone.

According to those close to him, Bilardo was able to watch the entire 2022 World Cup in Qatar on television and celebrate the third world star , in this case won by the team led by Lionel Scaloni on the bench and Lionel Messi on the field.