Apart from a World Cup in their trophy cabinets and that they coach high-profile national teams, Marcello Lippi and Diego Maradona have little in common. One was an average top-flight sweeper. The other was a footballing genius and the greatest player anyone born after 1970 has seen. One is a veteran coach who has won five league titles and reached four Champions League finals in a 25-year career. The other has a managerial career that spans 36 games (13 of them with Argentina), including 12 victories and 16 defeats.

Yet within a few hours on Wednesday, both had something to get off their chest. And both did it in a way that sparked plenty of controversy while raising the issue of what a nation’s relationship to its national team ought to be.

Lippi’s Italy, who had already qualified for the World Cup, hosted Cyprus in Parma. They promptly went two goals down against their unfancied opponents, before a hat-trick from Alberto Gilardino gave them a 3-2 victory. During the first half, the crowd made its displeasure known, chanting the names of players whom Lippi has so far excluded (most notably Francesco Totti and Antonio Cassano) and then, after the Cypriot goals, singing “Andate a lavorare”, which literally means “Go get a job” but is the Italian equivalent of the classic “You’re not fit to wear the shirt”.

Banners calling for the selection of Cassano, the wayward genius, were on display from the kick-off, suggesting some of it was premeditated. They ranged from the humorous (“Lippi you have a Facebook friend request from Cassano”) to the blunt (“Lippi, this is our team, not yours: Cassano now!”).

A livid Lippi rounded on the supporters after the game. “We qualified for the World Cup with a match to spare, I made 11 changes, it’s a meaningless game and still they turn on us?” he seethed. “We’re world champions, we’re on track, do our players really deserve this? It’s a disgrace.”

As for Maradona, he was clearly wound up at the end of a qualifying campaign that left Argentina on the verge of missing out on the World Cup for the first time in 40 years. His disappointing results — including a 6-1 defeat by Bolivia — and bizarre team selection (he called up a total of 78 players in his 11 months in charge) drew the ire of the Argentine media.

After the decisive 1-0 win away to Uruguay, he, too, did not hold back in his post-match comments, except his anger was directed above all at the press. “To those who did not believe in us, and I apologise in advance to the ladies present, they can go and suck my c*** and they can keep sucking it,” he said.

He added, motioning to the journalists: “You people take it up the a***. You treated me like dirt, but now you have to accept that we are going to the World Cup.”

Both tirades were followed by (partial) apologies. “It was an outburst, I was speaking about a minority of the fans, it’s over, let’s move on,” Lippi said.

Maradona was even more ambiguous: “I am sorry to those I offended and I am sorry to the women, including my mother, who heard that language, but those who spoke out against us are anti-Argentine and I’m not going to forgive them. My words were directed at them and I don’t have to apologise to them.”

Unsurprisingly, both men experienced fallout after their outbursts. Lippi was reminded that supporters are, after all, paying customers and they have a right to their views. Dino Zoff, the closest thing Italy has to a universal national footballing institution, reminded Lippi “not to come across as arrogant”.

As for Maradona, his long-time nemesis, Sepp Blatter, waded into the fray, raising the spectre of a five-match ban. “The reports we have received so far leave us no other alternative but to ask the disciplinary committee to open a case against [Maradona],” the Fifa president said. “It is my duty and my obligation to do this under Article 58a of the disciplinary code.”

Actually, vulgarity apart, it’s hard to see which rule in Article 58a Maradona broke: “Anyone who offends the dignity of a person or group of persons through contemptuous, discriminatory or denigratory words or actions concerning race, colour, language, religion or origin shall be suspended for at least five matches.”

Maradona’s words were directed at the media and made no reference to race, colour, language, religion or origin. But, heck, when it comes to ill-advised off-the-cuff remarks, Blatter is cut from a similar cloth to Maradona.

Yet the issue remains. How much abuse and what kind of abuse are fans and the media entitled to direct at coaches? And does it make a difference if it’s the national team, who are supposed to be a reflection of an entire nation and are, essentially, a public trust?

Do we have a duty to support our national team come what may, even when we don’t like their performances or attitudes? Is it fair for national managers to wheel out the old George W. Bushism of “you are either with us or against us”?

Whatever the case, last week revealed an important truth: footballing credit runs out very quickly, regardless of whether you’re the defending world champion or whether you were a footballing legend.

Maybe it was the shock of that realisation that helped to prompt their respective tirades.

And another thing...

Valencia carry on regardless

If Valencia went into last weekend with a bit of apprehension, it was fully understandable. On Thursday, Manuel Llorente, the club’s president, revealed that debts stood at more than £450 million and the club would probably lose in excess of another £35 million this season. As if that weren’t enough, they faced Barcelona on Saturday.

Yet the thing about football is that, no matter how bleak the situation, you still have to play the game. And, on the night, Valencia held Barcelona to a scoreless draw. Valencia may well feel that the best way forward is to play their way out of their present plight, which means hanging on to David Silva and David Villa.

Stankovic raises the bar

There’s something special about goals scored from the halfway line that makes them live on in our memory, like David Beckham against Wimbledon in 1998. Dejan Stankovic, the Inter Milan midfield player, joined that select fraternity on Saturday night.

What makes his goal against Genoa stand out even more, however, is that it was a first-time volley, The Serbia midfield player, in a feat of technique, power and co-ordination, met a clearance from Marco Amelia, the Genoa goalkeeper, and sent it 50 yards into the opposing goal. Inter went on to win 5-0 in what may have been their best performance under José Mourinho.