Diego Maradona 1960 - 2020

In the history of the beautiful game, as well as there have been many great players, there have also been some controversial ones, but one man can stand toe-to-toe with all comers. A man that even stands above them (and by some margin). That man of which I’m talking about is, of course, Diego Armando Maradona. EL Diego.


Diego’s story began when playing for his home town team Estrella Roja in the town of Villa Fiorito, when he was spotted by a top talent scout and soon became the stalwart of Los Cebollitas (or “the little onions”, for those of us with little Spanish knowledge). Then, playing for the youth team of Buenos Aires based side Argentinos Juniors, as a 12 year old ball boy, he was already dazzling the crowds by showing his wizardry on the ball.

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Maradona made his debut for Argentinos Juniors ten days before his sixteenth birthday and was a real stalwart of the side, with a highly impressive tally of 115 goals in 167 games in 5 years from his role as a support striker. It was during this time that Sheffield United had a bid of £180,000 rejected for the young attacker. Later Diego sealed a move to Boca Juniors midway through the 1981 season.

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In the 1981 season, which was Diego’s first at Boca, he won his first league title. He played the full season in 1982 and in this time scored a whopping 28 goals in 40 games before leaving Argentina for Europe, where he joined Barcelona for a world record £5,000,000 price tag. However, before the move was sealed, there was a small matter of a World Cup for Diego to contend with.

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At the 1982 World Cup Argentina were the defending champions and were set-up against Belgium, El Salvador and Hungary in the opening round of fixtures. Although in the opening game Argentina were on the losing side against the Belgians, they still progressed with relative ease, looking very convincing against both Hungarian and El Salvadorian sides, with Diego scoring two against the Hungarians. Argentina’s second round, however, was far from convincing, with them suffering defeat to both Brazil and eventual champions Italy. In this tournament Diego remained on the field for all but 5 minutes, and even this time was enforced as he was sent off for serious foul play against the Brazilian side.

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Maradona’s time in Catalunya was far from smooth, with Diego suffering a career threatening broken leg at the hands of Athletic Bilbao’s Andoni Goikoetxea. When tied in with the fact that in this short time Diego suffered from Hepatitis and frequent feuds with teammates, directors, and most notably club President Josep Lluis Nunez, Diego was forced to request a transfer from the Nou Camp. In spite of this, he still picked up the Copa Del Rey and Spanish Super Cup in his time at the Catalan Club.

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Following Diego’s disputes at Barcelona, he commanded another World Record transfer fee, this time of £6,900,000 in his move to resurgent Serie A side Napoli. Soon after joining the Naples club, Diego became a fan favourite, leading the club to their only ever Serie A title’s in 1987, followed by two seasons placed 2nd before Napoli earned the Scudetto again, and Diego himself finished the 1988 season as top scorer in the league. In 1989, Napoli won the Eufa Cup, the Coppa Italia in 1987 and the Italian Super Cup in 1990. During this time, however, he was most noted for his international exploits.

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In the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Diego took it upon himself as national team captain to help Argentina win back the Jules Rimet trophy, and whilst in the Central American country he played every minute of every game Argentina participated in. This tournament & Diego combined to give the fans one of the most recognisable displays in football history in the Quarter Final against Sir Bobby Robson’s England. The game wasn’t for the majority an overly impressive performance by Diego. Nonetheless, in one 3-minute spell Diego took the game by the scruff of the neck and scored two completely different goals. Firstly, the infamous “hand of *” goal, followed almost directly from kick off by Maradona picking up the ball in his own half before taking on 5 England players and rounding England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, slotting the ball into the gaping net. This goal was later voted as the goal of the century. Nevertheless, it is sometimes overshadowed by the complaints over the questionable nature of the goal minutes earlier, of which Maradona proclaimed the ball went in with “a little of the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of *”. Replays later showed that this meant that the ball went in from the hand of Maradona.

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In the following Semi final against Belgium, Maradona again scored a brace, the second goal, again, coming from a virtuoso dribble past many men to put Argentina in the final, in which the South Americans had to face the West Germans, who were adamant not to allow Diego to dictate the game as he had done in previous rounds, and so they double marked him. But even this was not enough to stop Maradona, who played the ball through to Jorge Barruchaga for the winner. Such was this feat that outside the Azteca Stadium a statue was built of Diego scoring “the goal of the century”.

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Back in Naples there were many off-the-pitch problems, Cocaine use being the most noted with Diego often missing practices and even games as a result of “stress”. However, there were other controversies including an alleged illegitimate son, as well as rumoured acquaintances with the Camorra. In 1991, Diego was found guilty of Cocaine use and given a 15 month ban from football, which caused much disgrace and his release from the Italian side, for whom he had notched 81 goals in 188 games.

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In the 1990 World Cup Argentina were much less dominant than 4 years previous, as was Diego himself. Argentina were quite lucky that year, as they barely qualified from the first round in 3rd position. On they went to face Brazil in the second round in a game that finished 1-0 after Diego played a pass to Claudio Caniggia, who proceeded to put the ball in the back of the net. Next came the quarter finals in which Argentina faced Yugoslavia. After the game had finished 0-0, a penalty shootout was required to separate the sides, but the Argentine captain hit a very poor penalty, which was stopped by the Yugoslavian keeper Tomislav Ivkovic. Argentina still moved on in the tournament though. In the Semi-final against the host nation Italy, the game, again, went to penalties. The brave Maradona hit his penalty into the exact same spot as his penalty-kick against the Yugoslavians. This time the ball hit the back off the net. In the final against the West Germans Diego was reasonably quiet and Argentina lost the game 1-0.

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After Diego returned from his cocaine induced ban he returned to La Liga to pull on the shirt of Sevilla. However, due to the ban he had just served, Diego was incredibly rusty and his performances weren’t quite up to his usual exceptional standards, with him only getting 5 goals in his 26 games at the club, and was allowed to leave the La Liga outfit to return to Argentina.

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Whilst at Newell’s Old Boys, Diego was still showing signs of problems brought on by his age and 15 month absence from the game, but he was still seen as being worthy of his place in the Argentinian squad for the upcoming World Cup in the United States of America.

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In the 1994 World Cup Diego started as though there had been no issues in the previous years, mainly evidenced by his fantastic dribble and goal in the opening game against Greece. Nevertheless, many people became suspicious of Maradona when he sprinted over to and screamed at the camera, his eye’s visually bulging out of the sockets. This suspicion was only heightened when it became clear that Diego’s personal fitness coach in the build up to the tournament was no other than convicted drug abusing sprinter Ben Johnson. Following the second group game Maradona was seen to be dragged off the pitch by a female FIFA official, it soon became apparent that he had been found to be full of the performance-enhancing drug Ephedrine.

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Following the World Cup Maradona moved back to Boca Juniors to finish his career. Although he didn’t win any more competitions, he had a reasonably successfully swansong, with 7 goals in 30 games in his 2 years at the club, before leaving to go into management.

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Maradona took on two clubs alongside his Argentinos Juniors midfield partner Carlos Fren, taking over Mandiyu and Racing. However, both were unsuccessful, leading to Diego’s retirement. That would be the end of it. Or would it?
Many questions were soon asked about Diego’s private life, including his ongoing cocaine addiction and weight gain, to the point were he was both in drug rehab before having his stomach stapled to aide in his weight-loss following a heart attack in 2004. It recently became apparent that Diego had paid no taxes during his time at Napoli and now owes 37,000,000€ of unpaid taxes, of which he has paid back 42,000€, two watches and a pair of earrings.

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In October 2008 Maradona was chosen to take control of the Argentinian national team, a job in which Diego showed early signs of not being up to it, most notably when the national side succumbed to their worst defeat in their illustrious history, by losing 6-1 to Bolivia, leaving Argentina needing 2 wins in the remaining 2 games (or a combination of results) to reach the World Cup of South Africa. The feat was managed due in no small part to Martin Palermo’s 93rd minute winner against Perú, which made Diego run down the touchline and belly flopping in the torrential rain, a moment that could warm the heart of any football fan. This was followed days later by a 1-0 victory over Uruguay, meaning that Argentina had qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.


Whilst in South Africa, Argentina were very effective as an attacking force. However, they struggled with the defensive side of their game. It was clear that all of the players were highly motivated to perform for their combined hero, but their defensive nievity really showed up in the quarter finals in a match against the highly impressive counter-attacking German side, who defeated Diego’s men quite convincingly, 4-0. After this, Diego and the AFA president Julio Grondona had many disputes, leading to Maradona’s sacking (or as a matter of fact, a lack of contract-extension) from the international job. Although, for those who enjoy entertaining press conferences, Diego is in the hunt for a new job, so there is hope for his return to the game as a club manager.


Found this brilliant article on the man. Troubled genius.

 

erm

 

Copied and pasted because you can't link to other football sites (I think?)

 

When I first came into the thread, nothing was showing up.

 

Aye? Very strange

 

Aye. Showing up now though.

 

I know he's generally viewed by many as the greatest player the world has ever seen, but I genuinely don't think the coverage I have seen of him throughout my life would last more than 45 mins.

 

Same actually...But could say this about the vast Majority of the games greats

 

That's the thing though, many of his greatest moments are word of mouth, due to the lack of coverage at the time. Which led to the exposure of the World Cup being the highest prestige.

No doubt at the absolute top of his game he was one of the best ever, sadly the top of his game didn't last as long as it should have due to his personal life. I kind of view him in the same way as I do Ronaldinho.

 

Exactly - which for me is the sole reason that players the likes of Pele, Maradona etc I can never see them as being the best ever - unlike guys such as Batitstuta, Zidane, Messi who I have actually seen with my own eyes.

The greatest non-Celtic game I have witnessed was Liverpool's European Cup win in Instanbul.

 

I have never seen Pele play, but I watched Maradona play at Hampden in 1978. I can't really comment on Pele, but Maradona was the best player in the world, ever, in my opinion. He was magnificent in his day. Messi is the only player to come close to the skills he had.

Messi's longevity in the game may see him eclipse Maradona, in my reckoning, but so far it is still Diego for me all day long.

Zidane was an excellent player, but nowhere near the greats in my opinion, and Batistuta wouldn't even get in my top 50.

 

Fair enough man, I respect your opinions

Without detracting this too much away from Maradona and onto another subject, my main point was that I have not - in all honesty - seen a helluva lot of Maradona and any of the other "all time greats" pre-90's.

I've seen Maradona on a few programs and from youtube clips etc - certainly looks an exceptional player, but I have to go on what others say about him in most regards.

It's widely regarded within football that Maradona is one, if not THE greatest footballer of all time.

 

Would love to go out on the lash with him.

 

* only nose how that night would end up...........

 

I grew up watching this guy, Mexico '86 is the 1st big tournament I can remember.

I was mesmerised by him and grew up thinking it was natural for a player that was deemed 'world-class' just to go waltzing past people and score, because that's what he did in that world cup 2 or 3 times. I actually thought it was impossible for anyone to beat Argentina with Maradona in the side, he was THAT good.

It makes me laugh when players like Beckham get called world-class when I remember what this guy used to do with the ball. He was my hero.

Having said that, I read his book and he comes across as a complete * if I'm honest. He has an arrogance that is beyond belief. For example, he claims Napoil only won the title because he told the manager which players to buy and where to play them.

I guess you can have that arrogance when you have the skill to match it though.

Messi is the only player I have seen since that can compare if I'm honest.

Plus, surely this alone makes him a Scottish legend: :icon_mrgreen:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wVho3I0NtU"]Maradona Goal of the Century - Víctor Hugo Morales commentary - Argentina-England 2-1 1986 - YouTube[/ame]

 

The way he scored the best goal ever and the most controversial goal ever in the space of an hour is just unbelievable, imo him and Messi the two greatest ever, * Pele.

 

Absolute legend. The best to ever grace a football pitch in my opinion, I think Messi is a very similar player and will eventually overtake Maradona in my eyes. However much like the famous Newton quote, I think the players of today have stood on the shoulders of giants and were so heavily influenced by the pioneers of football like Maradona, Pele, Garrincha etc.

 

in the space of 5 mins lol

 

Posted this a while ago, but in the context of this thread, it's more than worth doing it again:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlVfzOb_w9s"]Diego Maradona - Greatest freekick specialist - YouTube[/ame]