Diego Maradona’s coffin arrived at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires for a period of rest in the state, television reports showed, following the death of the 60-year-old Argentine soccer legend on Wednesday.
Hundreds of people were already queuing to pay their respects to Maradona, who died while recovering from brain surgery, images from sports channels TyC and ESPN showed on Thursday.
Argentines were mired in grief over the death of the country’s favorite son, a sports hero with a sublime talent who they saw as “the most human of gods.”
The news fell like a blow to a nation hit by months of economic crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, but in which soccer is seen as a panacea for all ills.
Soccer fans scream as the hearse carrying Diego Maradona’s coffin arrives at a funeral home in Buenos Aires, Argentina. [Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo]
At 10 pm local time on Wednesday, Buenos Aires exploded with cheers, horns, sirens and lights for the man who wore the famous number 10, after a viral message on social networks asked for “one last applause.”
The tribute resounded throughout the night in all neighborhoods of the capital, the AFP news agency reported.
At the Diego Maradona stadium, home of the Argentinos Juniors club where Maradona played as a child and made his debut as a professional player, fireworks were launched when a large crowd flooded the field shouting “Maradooo, Maradooo”.
Previously, fans looking for a place to cry gravitated towards the Obelisco in downtown Buenos Aires and, of course, the Bombonera, the steep cauldron of a stadium that is home to Boca Juniors, where Maradona’s genius was forged.
“I can not believe it. Is incredible. You think that any storm is overcome, but no, everyone ends up being deadly. It feels like a bad dream. A joke, ”Francisco Salaverry, 28, told AFP.
“Today is a bad day. A very sad day for all Argentines, ”summarized President Alberto Fernández in an interview with the TyC sports channel, after declaring three days of national mourning.
Across the city, the duel had already begun as fans sadly stood next to posters paying tribute to the legend, showing Maradona in his prime.
Many of the banners simply read D10S, a play on the Spanish word “dios” for “God” that includes Maradona’s jersey number.
‘Wandering, dirty and sinful God’
If soccer is a religion in Argentina, then Maradona really was their God, especially to the founders of the Maradonian Church, a primarily internet-based group that uses religious language to worship the player.
Approximately 1,000 people responded to the “church” call for fans to gather in their honor at the Obelisk at 6 pm local time, a traditional meeting point in downtown Buenos Aires for soccer celebrations.
“I’d rather not talk. Today I’m going to the Obelisk, ”said Guillermo Rodríguez, a lifelong fan who got a tattoo of his idol on October 30 to celebrate Maradona’s 60th birthday.
Fans sadly stayed in tribute to Number 10, showing Maradona in his prime [Martin Villar/Reuters]
Rodriguez, 42, couldn’t hold back the tears and said that she now knew she would never be able to fulfill her dream of hugging her idol.
“I’m totally shocked, heartbroken,” said Gabriel Oturi, 68. “I will be honest with you. I thought he was a great guy who didn’t have very good people around him, who they took a lot of advantage of ”.
“The first thing my 12-year-old son said to me was: ‘Mom, Maradona died.’ I could not believe it. And I didn’t particularly adore him, but I felt sorry for him, ”said Marcela Rodríguez, 52.
“Few times in my life have I felt the pain that invades me today,” wrote Maurico Passadore on social media, thinking of the famous World Cup tie against England in Mexico in June 1986, when Maradona scored the infamous goal of the “Hand of God”. .
“Few times have I felt so much joy as that June 29, when we touched the sky with our hands, the same sky that today is darkening and fills us with tears.”
Some pointed out that Maradona died on the same date as his hero Fidel Castro, the Cuban revolutionary leader whom he referred to as his “second father.”
Maradona’s struggles with drugs throughout his career were part of what made Argentines so protective of their hero.
An anonymous social media user went viral with a message saying that Maradona “was a wandering, dirty and sinful God. The most human of the gods ”.
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