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While Diego Maradona is remembered for his masterful composure on the ball, he was also famous for his frequent lack of control both on and off the field.
FILE: Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona swings a soccer ball over his head as he walks off the practice field following the national team’s practice session on May 22, 1986 in Mexico City. Image: AFP.
BUENOS AIRES – Diego Maradona was soccer’s archetypal troublesome genius, a world-famous player whose life and career scaled the most dazzling heights but also the darkest depths.
Maradona, who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 60, became a world icon after leading Argentina to the 1986 World Cup, but he was not a squeaky clean idol like Pelé, and made few attempts to hide his fiery personality and many vices.
“I am black or white, I will never be gray in my life,” he once said.
Maradona was short, powerful and fast. He was also a fierce and cunning competitor who refused to be intimidated despite many opponents trying. Above all, he had a sublime and imaginative ability.
“No ball has had a better experience than when it was on his left foot,” Argentina teammate Jorge Valdano said.
However, while Maradona is remembered for his mastery of composure on the ball, he was also famous for his frequent lack of control both on and off the field. He struggled with addiction, particularly cocaine, and with his weight.
Diego Armando Maradona was born on October 30, 1960 in Lanús, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, and grew up in one of the poorest areas of the Argentine capital.
He made his debut for Argentinos Juniors shortly before his 16th birthday and his debut for Argentina at 16 in February 1977.
His career is defined by the World Cup, the four in which he played and the one that he lost.
“I have two dreams,” Maradona told Argentine television at 17. “My first dream is to play the World Cup. And the second dream is to win it.”
Coach César Luis Menotti omitted “El Pibe de Oro” (the golden boy) from his team in 1978. Argentina, the hosts, won the competition for the first time.
The following year, with Menotti, Maradona led Argentina to victory at the U-20 World Cup in Japan, winning the Ballon d’Or for best player of the tournament.
His absolute World Cup debut in 1982 in Spain went bad. Maradona was brutally treated by defenders and ended his tournament with a red card in retaliation as Argentina, already eliminated, lost to Brazil.
GOD’S HAND
He expired four years later, propelling his country to victory in Mexico and making the tournament his own.
In the final, Maradona set up the winning goal in the 86th minute against West Germany. He scored two goals in the semi-final against Belgium, beating four defenders for the second.
But the game that defined his tournament, and possibly his international career, was a 2-1 quarter-final victory over England, in which he scored two goals that will be remembered forever, for many different reasons.
In the 51st minute, when Peter Shilton reached out to catch the ball, Maradona, about three inches shorter, jumped to his side and with dexterity that deceived the eye, threw the ball through the arms of the England goalkeeper until the net.
After the game, Maradona said he scored “a little with Maradona’s head and a little with God’s hand.”
Four minutes later, Maradona picked up the ball in his own half, defeated six England players, including Shilton, before heading home. Subsequently, FIFA named it the “Goal of the Century”.
In 1990 in Italy, nearly immobile due to a badly kicked left ankle injury, Maradona led a limited and defensive Argentine team back to the final despite only winning two games and scoring only five goals.
In a terrible final, it took an Andreas Brehme penalty in the 85th minute for West Germany to beat Maradona.
Four years later, in the United States, Maradona seemed to recover. He scored against Greece and celebrated by running to yell at a television camera, an unsettling mix of joy, relief and anger.
But he finished his last World Cup as his first, prematurely. After Argentina beat Nigeria in their second group stage match, Maradona failed an ephedrine test and was expelled from the tournament.
A similar pattern of wild ups and downs marked Maradona’s club career.
Maradona moved to the club he supported, Boca Juniors, in 1981 and won his only Argentine league title the following season.
He went to Barcelona for a world record in 1982. He won the Copa del Rey in his first season, but the club only finished fourth in the league.
He missed much of the following campaign after Athletic Bilbao’s Andoni Goikoetxea broke his ankle, and when Barça lost to Bilbao in that year’s cup final, Maradona launched a spectacular massive fight, knocking down four opponents.
Facing a ban in Spain, Maradona moved to Napoli, becoming the first player to break the world transfer record twice.
Their dazzling play transformed a club from a poor and highly mocked city and led to their only two Serie A titles.
In a whirlwind of seven years he fathered an illegitimate child, befriended the local mob and enemies of the tax collectors. He also fell deeply into cocaine addiction. His stormy time in Italy effectively ended in April 1991 when he tested positive for cocaine and was banned for 15 months.
He ended his playing career with one season at Sevilla, one at Newell’s Old Boys and two at his beloved Boca.
PLAYER OF THE CENTURY
Over the next two and a half decades, he had six short unsuccessful spells at club management in Argentina, the United Arab Emirates and Mexico, and also two fiery years as Argentina’s manager from 2008 to 2010.
Despite Argentina suffering a record 6-1 defeat to humble Bolivia in qualifying, and Maradona was banned for two months in late 2009 for an obscene tirade to journalists, he still led the team to the World Cup in South Africa, where he won. their group before being beaten 4-0 by Germany in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, Maradona’s off-field troubles continued.
He entered drug rehab on several occasions. When he stopped using cocaine, he choked on drinks, cigarettes and food and ended up in the hospital in 2007.
He was a strident supporter of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, whose image he had tattooed on his shoulder, and of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez.
In 2000, FIFA conducted an online survey on the Player of the Century. Maradona obtained 54% of the votes, Pelé was second with 18%. FIFA declared them joint winners.
Maradona married his long-time girlfriend, Claudia Villafane, in 1984. They had two daughters, Dalma and Gianinna, and they divorced in 2004.
He also had a son, Diego Junior, born in Naples in 1986, although he only recognized paternity in 2004.
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