"Mario is a phenomenon both as a person and a player. We are all indebted to him for what he did in 78 and that's great. But we've been very ungrateful to him as well. He was the goalscorer and the soul of that side after all, and he deserves some kind of tribute from Argentina. I love him."
Diego Maradona

"We were heavily criticised for not taking Maradona to the World Cup, but we thought he was too young and we had Kempes. Our selection policy was conditioned by the fact that we had a very clear idea of what we were looking for. If you don't know what you're looking for, then you'll never find anything. Things didn't work out too badly either."
Cesar Menotti, Kempes' coach atArgentina1978

"It goes without saying that Mario was absolutely essential to us winning the World Cup. We had a great, close-knit side, but he made all the difference in the last few metres. He just got better as the tournament went on, and although he didn't score in the first round we told him to relax. He started scoring in Rosario and he didn't stop until the Final. He was sensational."
Alberto Tarantini, Kempes' team-mate atArgentina1978

"In just one World Cup he showed he was an irresistible player with tremendous confidence. There were only a few defenders who managed to control him in 1978 and I'm proud to say I was one of them. Christian Lopez and I picked him up in zones, and we tried to encourage each other by saying he was just another player. We knew we couldn't let him turn because he was deadly from the edge of the box. He was so strong."
Marius Tresor,Francedefender atArgentina1978

"I met Kempes at the 1978 World Cup and we still keep in touch. He was a fantastic player with incredible strength. He's one of the main reasons why Argentina won that year."
Antonio Cabrini,Italydefender atArgentina1978