The soccer planet, without borders, pays honors on Thursday to the Argentine Diego Maradona, idolized ball artist of all time, on the one-year anniversary of his death, at the age of 60 on his sickbed.
Fans, footballers, coaches, clubs and celebrities from all over the world evoke the genius. A deified player for his talent and personality, he is still alive in the collective memory. Tributes are paid to his sporting exploits, but several of his personal stories are in question.
On Argentine courts, players line up to draw a 10, their iconic jersey. Fans loudly sing the legendary cry of love: "Maradó, Maradó".
Another memory, intimate and consistent with the grief, his daughters and sons Dalma, Gianinna, Diego Junior, Jana and Diego Fernando, his sisters and brothers, live with retirement.
On November 25, 2020, the worst of the nightmares happened: his huge heart and his lungs were turned off. It was the chronicle of a death foretold in which no one wanted to believe.
He does not rest in peace. He died in loneliness and agony, "left to its own devices", according to expert reports. There are seven medical professionals charged with malpractice homicide. His inheritance is the reason for another judicial mess.
It was time to enter the Olympus of the myths of Argentina with tragic death: Evita Perón, Che Guevara and Carlos Gardel (wherever he was born). A year ago, crowds broke pandemic rules and took to the streets at the funeral.
"I would steal Maradona’s drawer / to walk it through all the neighborhoods / of poor kids"wrote Argentine poet Liliana Campazzo.
Messi blessed
In the first row of tributes will be Lionel Messi, successor in the captaincy of the Albiceleste. Maradona blessed him as heir in 2006: "I know the player who will take my place, his name is Lionel Messi".
‘The flea’ revered him. When scoring goals, he sent kisses to the sky with both hands. After winning the Copa América-2021 against Brazil at the Maracana, he looked at the sky again and said: "He sure banked (supported) us from wherever he is".
Now Maradona’s videos are all the rage on the screens. One and a thousand times they pass the best goal in the history of the World Cups, in Mexico-1986, to England (2-1), after a poetic dribbling journey.
And that first goal with a trap that ironic how "the hand of God". Goals of all colors pass in the national team, in the youth champion of Tokyo-1979, in Boca Juniors, Barcelona, SCC Napoli, Sevilla and Newell’s.
Says a song popularized by his friend Rodrigo: "In a pasture he forged an immortal left foot". It is the hymn to his origin in a shantytown of the southern suburb.
"We will miss you", says a legend of the Argentine Professional League, in a video that premieres another musical theme in his memory.
Rodrigo sings: "For never being sold, he faced power". Maradona’s political face was explosive. He led a massive march against former US President George W. Bush. Branded as "gangsters" several FIFA presidents.
Maradona was like a rockstar, a Hollywood star between adoration and the abyss of death, drugs and alcohol.
In other World Cups, he was kicked to death (Spain-1982 and Italy-1990) and suspended for doping (USA-1994).
Shark in pool
It was all from a movie. Since playing a head game with Brazilian Pele, friends on TV. Or interview former world boxing champion Mike Tyson or former Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
At its peak, rebellious and defiant, it was in Naples passion and madness. SCC Napoli won for the first and only time two Scudettos and an international title, the UEFA Cup.
Now two statues are erected for him in the renowned Diego Maradona stadium. They will call a bronze one "the town". "I imagined him flying towards infinity"said the sculptor, Domenico Sepe.
This Thursday the president of Naples Aurelio De Laurentiis paid tribute to him in the ‘Quartieri Spagnoli’, humble neighborhoods converted into Diego’s mausoleum. There was also a delegation of Argentine Boca Juniors fans, who traveled especially for the anniversary, the newspaper Il Mattino confirmed.
Strong emotions are experienced in his last club as DT, Gimnasia La Plata. His arrival was "a terrible revolution"say the gymnasts.
No one defined him better than his personal trainer Fernando Signorini: "Diego was a guy with whom I could have shared my whole life, but with Maradona not a minute, it was unbearable because of everything that was generated from him, it was like being in a pool with a shark".
An incorrigible womanizer and a fighter, they are still looking for more sons / daughters or lovers. The testimony of abuse of the Cuban Mavys Álvarez now appeared, when she was only 15 years old.
"It is hard to be in his country (of Maradona), to see that he is everywhere, that he is an idol, and that at the same time what I remember about him as a person feels ugly"Mavys declared at a press conference in Buenos Aires, three days before the first anniversary of the death of ’10’.
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