Since yesterday, the world of football has been mourning the loss of quite possibly its biggest icon there ever was: Diego Armando Maradona
On 25 November 2020, Maradona passed away at the age of 60, following a heart attack after chronic health problems that had come as a result of his excessive use of drugs such as cocaine among other things in his younger days. Arguably the best player of his generation, Maradona was a once in a lifetime talent combined with a personality in and out of the pitch, the likes of which the world may never get to see in the future again.
Let's have a look at some of his most memorable and career defining moments, shall we?
In 1983 and while playing for Barcelona, Diego Maradona scored an incredible goal against none other than Barca's biggest domestic rivals in Real Madrid. This lead to Madrid's supporters giving him a standing ovation something that we may have witnessed ever since but back then it was unheard of and had never taken place before.
A year later, Maradona shocked the world when he left Barcelona for Napoli for a world record fee (at the time) of £6.9 million. He was presented at Stadio San Paolo and welcomed from 75.000 fans who immediately saw him as their saviour. He went on to change the landscape of the club forever in the years that followed. At the time, the Serie A title was being dominated by clubs from the Northern Italy like Juventus and no team from the Southern region had been able to win the league.
Probably his greatest moment of them all, was the second goal he scored at the quarter final of the 1986 World Cup against England and minutes after his famous Hand of God goal. He went on to win the world cup later and put on perhaps the greatest individual performance by a player throughout a single major tournament.
A year later, Maradona went on to make history as he lead Napoli in their first ever Serie A title win thus fulfilling the prophecy from 3 years ago of him becoming the club's and city's hero. He went to also win the Coppa Italia later on that season, completing the first ever double for Napoli.
3 years later during the 1990 Fifa World Cup, fate seemed to have really unique plans for Maradona as his favourite Argentina was set to face Italy in the semi finals of the tournament in the Stadio San Paolo of Napoli, of all places. The one city and stadium that adored him like a God was now put in a very awkward situation. Taking advantage of how the city of Naples had long been looked down on and discriminated from the North, he publicly urged the fans to cheer for Argentina instead of their own National Team.
He was somewhat successful as Argentina received a much better reaction than in the previous games from the fans on that night. They went to win the game in the penalty shootout and reached the final but they were defeated by Germany with a last minute penalty kick goal.
Career Highlights
Argentine Primera División 1981 (Boca Juniors)
Copa del Rey 1983 (Barcelona)
Serie A 1987, 1990 (Napoli)
Coppa Italia 1987 (Napoli)
Uefa Cup 1989 (Napoli)
FIFA World Cup 1986 (Argentina)
FIFA Player of the Century 2000
Highly recommended: Diego Maradona 2019 Documentary
