Football legend Diego Armando Maradona dies at 60
Diego Maradona is arguably the greatest player in history
Diego Maradona is one of the greatest players in football history. The incomparable Argentine passed away at the age of 60 and memories of his sheer genius will continue to impact the sport.
Like most different parts of game and life, each period in football’s sublime history is characterized by amazing minutes that cut an interesting heritage in the records of the game. Diego Armando Maradona’s supernatural accomplishments in the 1986 World Cup guaranteed that football could never go back again.
As a little youngster in Argentina, Diego Maradona grew up a fervent enthusiast of Boca Juniors and began as a 12-year-old ball kid in his juvenile years. Maradona had an interesting impulse with the ball and was mainstream among fans at the arena for his divination on the pitch during half-time. Much to their dismay that the adolescent’s exceptional little show would be a forerunner to the most celebrated warm-up daily practice throughout the entire existence of sport.
Maradona's warm-up alone was worth the entry fee 😢pic.twitter.com/PxcdsFHJI2
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 25, 2020
Diego Maradona was ever the nonconformist in his initial days and it took a couple of moments into his introduction for Argentina’s Golden Boy to stand out as truly newsworthy the nation over. The tremendous ability’s nutmeg on Juan Domingo Cabrera is presently a piece of Argentine football fables and was the first of numerous entrancing stories that made Maradona’s legend.
With Argentina prepared for its next savior after a victorious 1978 World Cup crusade, Diego Maradona was promoted as the lynchpin of another look Albiceleste outfit in 1982 however could just show looks at his intelligent capacity in the competition.
Maradona delighted in a line of amazing developmental seasons in Argentina and was acquainted with Europe by Spanish monsters Barcelona in 1982. The forward typically took to European football like a fish to water yet was hampered by injuries during his time in Spain.
All things considered, Diego Maradona could goad as effectively as he could stun. The Argentine’s broadly angry conflict with the Athletic Bilbao crew in 1984 finished in a huge fight on the pitch and adequately finished Maradona’s time at Barcelona.
Diego Maradona’s overwhelming character never appeared to agree with Barcelona’s chiefs and his record move away from the club denoted a monstrous defining moment in the incredible Argentine’s vocation. Maradona’s time at Barcelona was not viewed as a triumph however the way that he scored 38 objectives in a physical issue ridden 58 games in Spain is a demonstration of his outstandingly grandiose norms.
Diego Maradona was the first Barcelona player (one of three, ever) to get a standing ovation from Real Madrid fans at the Bernabéu. Legendary. pic.twitter.com/QAzBB05Ka5
— Rawan (@rawan) November 25, 2020
Diego Maradona – the saviour of Naples
In the overall setting of Italian football, Napoli assume an interesting job that is illustrative of a feeling that has generally been predominant in southern areas of the nation. The financial talk in Italy has consistently been overwhelmed by a north-south gap that has saturated the game over many years of wild contention. The Italian economy had been truly overwhelmed by northern pieces of the nation and Naples was in no mind-set to acknowledge business as usual.
At the point when Diego Maradona chose to speak to Napoli in 1984, the city ejected with sheer bliss. The individuals of the city considered Maradona’s appearance as an insignia of the following force move and resounded with the Argentine whiz’s offbeat nature both on and off the pitch. It was a match made in paradise.
Diego Maradona captained Napoli to their first-since forever Serie A title in the 1986-87 season and the triumph transformatively affected the southern piece of the Italian promontory. Following Napoli’s triumph march, sports columnist David Goldblatt was in amazement of Maradona’s status in the city and impeccably exemplified Napoli’s noteworthy second.
“The festivals were wild. The world was flipped around. The Neapolitans held fake memorial services for Juventus and Milan, consuming their caskets, their passing notification reporting, ‘May 1987, the other Italy has been crushed. Another domain is conceived.'”
one of the best banners of all time – ‘you don’t know what you missed’ at a graveyard in naples after maradona guided napoli to their first league title pic.twitter.com/42E37HEjV5
— laura (@lauraw97_) November 25, 2020
Diego Maradona’s reached the peak of his career in Italy and went on to spend several successful years in Napoli. The Argentine legend went on to win another Scudetto at the club and also won the Coppa Italia in 1987.
Maradona’s impact on Italian football was so profound that many of his contemporaries at the time paid glowing tributes to the Argentine wizard, despite playing for rival clubs. AC Milan’s legendary defensive duo of Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini claimed that Maradona was the best player they had ever faced.
Juventus star Michel Platini – a player comparable to the great Maradona himself in the Bianconeri’s eyes – went a step further:
“Diego was capable of things no one else could match. The things I could do with a football, he could do with an orange.”
The 1986 World Cup – Diego Maradona’s magnum opus
Diego Maradona was, in essence, a magician. The Argentine’s surreal exploits on the pitch transcended the realm of sport and created moments that left viewers and opponents alike dazed, infuriated, baffled, and overcome with splendour in a timeframe that was inexplicably difficult to fathom.
Unlike the 1982 World Cup, the 1986 edition of the tournament saw a different Diego Maradona. The Argentine playmaker had plied his trade in a combative and competitive Serie A for over two years and was now used to the violent approach that defenders generally adopted to nullify his genius.
Argentina were in the middle of a difficult transition at the time with inspirational veteran Daniel Passarella hanging up his boots days before his country’s first game. Diego Maradona was Argentina’s lone warrior in a tournament peppered with powerful and well-drilled teams.
What followed, however, was nothing short of a historic obliteration. After exceptional performances in the group stages, Diego Maradona singlehandedly dismantled Belgium and England to propel Argentina to the tournament’s showpiece event.
Will never forget this one. Watched it live as it happened. The call is as legendary as the goal! RT @ImNajeebH: Maradona "Goal of the Century" in 1986 World Cup against England pic.twitter.com/x27Ri6yF54#DiegoMaradona #Maradona #MaradonaRIP
— Bill Vessey (@billvessey) November 25, 2020
Maradona’s second goal against England, in particular, is widely regarded as one of the best goals in football history and was aptly nicknamed “the goal of the century” by contemporary journalists.
As with all things Maradona, Argentina’s historic game with England was marred with controversy as it was illuminated with sheer quality, with the legendary Napoli star predictably in the limelight.
Maradona’s life post his retirement has been subjected to plenty of dissection and investigation – sanctioned or otherwise – over the years. Diego Maradona’s larger-than-life persona both on and off the pitch did take its toll on the Argentine but his indelible impact on football made him one of the greatest sports personalities in history.
Que notícia triste. Eu perdi um grande amigo e o mundo perdeu uma lenda. Ainda há muito a ser dito, mas por agora, que Deus dê força para os familiares. Um dia, eu espero que possamos jogar bola juntos no céu. pic.twitter.com/6Li76HTikA
— Pelé (@Pele) November 25, 2020
The evolution of football over decades of trials and errors has seen a number of visionaries take to the pitch and irreversibly change the way the game is played. The likes of Pele, Alfredo Di Stefano, Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini, and Zico played their part in making football a popular sport that reached every nook and cranny of the world. Diego Maradona, however, took the game’s popularity to unprecedented heights and was arguably the first to truly transcend the sport.
After his controversial game against England, Diego Maradona brushed off remonstrations from the press with typical nonchalance. While Maradona’s casual ‘Hand of God’ quip may have been a fleeting remark at the time, generations of fans across the world will definitively remember the great Argentine wizard for what he was to the sport and to the people of his country – a God.