the dress rehearsal for the goal of the century was held in that muddy field – Corriere.it

This is the story of the god Diego in the mud. A true story even if it seems science fiction. A story that is passed down from generation to generation to be told to everyone who, too, was Maradona, and what he meant for Naples and its community. the famous story offriendly charity in Acerra, organized by him and then played as if there is no tomorrow, because it is true that there may not always be a tomorrow. Over time, as it always happens with Diego, the chronicle became a story and then an epic. But its substance, like that of dreams, is basically simple.

Against the president

The bottom. During the 1984-85 season, Pietro Puzone, a boy from Acerra, Napoli’s reserve and good friend of Maradona – today, at the age of 57, dramatically disgraced and homeless – meets a fellow Napoli fan who has a son. seriously ill. He had a mouth problem – Puzone would later recall – and the only way to recover was to have surgery in France. But i didn’t have enough money. Puzone immediately thinks of a Napoli charity match in San Paolo. Who doesn’t even think about the president? Corrado Ferlaino, who opposes for fear that some players will get hurt. Those who have no doubts Diego, who has his own personal vision of the events. Upon arriving in Italy in July 1984, he had said: I want to become the idol of the poor children of Naples, because they are like me in Buenos Aires. So he certainly accepts his friend’s request, and legend has it that he does it his way: Fuck the Lloyds of London.. This game must be played for that child. And to close the matter there, it is said, he pays the 12 million insurance.

Heating in the parking lot

Monday, January 25, 1985. The day before in the league, Napoli beat Lazio 4-0 at San Paolo. Twenty-four hours later, he performed in the small municipal stadium of Acerra, 20 kilometers north of Naples. There’s rain. Bitter cold. The field, no longer paved, only mud and puddles. There were about 10 thousand people – recalls Puzone – the booth contained only 5 thousand. The others were everywhere, around the camp under umbrellas, on balconies, on rooftops. All documented in a very famous video on Youtube. And documented, above all, Maradona’s famous warm-up and the team in the parking lot between the cars and the curious, like any amateur team. Official uniform – in thick wool, typical of the time – sponsors Cirio, serious expressions as if it were the final of the Champions Cup, and Diego at the head of the operations. Suddenly he jumps like a boxer pretending to throw hooks into the air. Then some children come over for a photo. They are so small and shy and frozen in the cold that when Diego leaves they freeze in their tight coats. Hypnotized. Incredulous. As if that moment could last forever. Then the game begins.