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Redondo holds out despite regrets

MADRID, Dec 29 (AFP) -Real Madrid’s Argentinian playmaker Fernando Redondo said here on Monday that he would not follow national coach Daniel Passarella’s instructions to cut his hair despite the fact that failure to do so would rule him out of the 1998 World Cup finals.

The 28-year-old Redondo, who played a leading role alongside Inter Milan’s Diego Simeone in Argentina’s 1994 World Cup side that eventually went out 3-2 to Romania in the last 16, said he may come to regret his stubborness in years to come.

“Perhaps in five or 10 years I will regret this but there are certain things that I will not compromise and this is one of them,” Redondo said.

Redondo, who joined Real Madrid from Tenerife after the 1994 World Cup finals, fell out with Passarella, who led Argentina to the 1978 World Cup title as a player, after the disciplinarian coach said that all his squad should have short hair — leading scorer Gabriel Batistuta also refused but has since been recalled.

“I did think about it again but I still came to the same conclusion and it looks like I will be watching the World Cup from my armchair,” Redondo said.