Maradona’s death: the idol of a generation, a legendary life with different reputations-BBC News

The Argentine has participated in 491 matches in his career and has scored 259 goals. He and Pelé come from two South American countries that are rivals on the field. They then competed for the honor of the best player of the 20th century in a vote. In the end, FIFA revised the voting rules and tied them.

Maradona has shown amazing talent since he was young, leading a youth team called “Los Cebollitas” (Los Cebollitas) undefeated in 136 consecutive games, and represented the country for the first time at the age of 16 and 120 days. The team played.

He is only 1.68 meters tall, short and stocky, not the typical athlete you imagine.

However, his thriving ball skills, physical flexibility, vision, ball feel and passing ability are enough to compensate for and overcome the limitations of his size and pace.

On the court, you may be able to freely get rid of fierce opposing defensive players; But in life, you often cannot avoid all kinds of problems.

The 34 goals scored by Maradona in 91 appearances on behalf of the Argentine team are not enough to sum up his ups and downs in the national team’s career.

He led his country to win the World Cup in Mexico in 1986 and reached the final four years later.

In the 1986 quarterfinals, two brief moments focused on their controversy. This kind of controversy was never very far in his later life.

The game against England was full of gunpowder because the two countries had a war in the Falkland Islands (called the “Malvinas” in Argentina) just four years ago. And what happened on the court afterwards will make things more tense.

In the 51st minute of the match, there were still no goals between them, at which point Maradona stretched his fist in a faceoff with rival goalkeeper Peter Hilton (Peter Shilton, Shluton) and hit the goal.

Then he described this dirty goal that escaped the referee’s eyes: “Half the head of Maradona and half the hand of God.”

Four minutes later, he completed another goal which was later called the “Goal of the Century” – he received the ball in his own half and then began a magical series dribble breakthrough, which was chased by many rival players. He goes down the maze and usually enters the penalty area, eventually passing Hilton before scoring the ball.

“You have to say it is magnificent. This goal is undoubtedly pure football talent,” said BBC commentator Barry Davies.

England then withdrew a goal, but Argentina advanced. Maradona said: “This is more than winning a game, it is important to kick the English out.”

Maradona broke the transfer fee record twice – in 1982, when he moved from his hometown of Boca Juniors to Barcelona, ​​Spain, it was worth £ 3 million. Two years later he switched to the Italian club Napoli (Napoli, Napoli) costing 5 million pounds.

At the Stadio San Paolo, he was greeted by 80,000 fans when he landed in a helicopter. A new hero has arrived.

He achieved the best period of his career at the club in Italy. In 1987 and 1990, he helped this team win the first and second Division 1 championships in team history, and in 1989 they won the UEFA Cup (UEFA Cup), which was madly loved by fans here. .

The celebration party for the first championship lasted five days, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets, but Maradona was overwhelmed by the attention and expectations.

“This is a great city, but I can hardly breathe. I want to go everywhere freely, I am a young man like everyone else,” he said.

He became entangled with the local Camorra criminal community, became increasingly involved in cocaine addiction and was involved in a lawsuit between parents and children.

A year after losing 1-0 to the German national team in the 1990 World Cup final, he again tested positive for drugs and was fined 15 months.

He returned, braked the cliff, seemed to pack his bags and returned to participate in the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

However, after scoring a goal, he ran towards the camera lens with a grim face, and the shouting scene shocked the audience. It was later discovered that he had used the banned drug ephedrine and was kicked out of the World Cup halfway through.

Three years later, after the third drug test came back positive, he retired on his 37th birthday, but he was still in trouble.

Due to the earlier incident of shooting journalists with a compressed air pistol, Maradona was sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison with a suspended execution.

His addiction to cocaine and alcoholism caused health problems. He was overweight and reached 128 kg. He suffered a serious heart attack in 2004 and was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

He underwent gastric bypass surgery to help him lose weight, and while trying to kick his drug addiction, he used Cuba as a refuge.

Despite this, Maradona continued to be appointed coach of the Argentine team in 2008, and two years later he led the team to the quarterfinals of the World Cup, but in that game they lost 4-0 to Germany. After the game, he ended his career as coach of the national team.

After that, he has coached many teams and continued to cause various controversies and continues to make headlines.

After being bitten by one of his pets, Shar Pei, he underwent lip reconstruction surgery and publicly admitted that his son Diego Armando Jr. was an illegitimate child on an affair.

His chaotic state of life can be seen on the stage of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

He was there to watch the match between Argentina and Nigeria, opened a catchphrase about himself, danced with a Nigerian fan and prayed to heaven before the match. On Lionel Messi (Messi)) After the first goal, he wildly celebrated it, then fell asleep in the stands and extended his middle finger with both hands as Argentina scored the second goal.

There are reports that he was to receive medical treatment after the match.

Sometimes embarrassing, sometimes inspiring; full of entertainment, always unscrupulous. Diego Maradona’s life is by no means ordinary.