Diego Armando Maradona died on Wednesday, November 25 at the age of 60. Considered one of the best players in history, a man of all excesses; He sometimes made us dream, sometimes made us cry, sometimes disappointed but never left us indifferent. Back on the mythical journey of an icon who goes beyond the simple framework of sport.
The Youth of Maradonna and formation (1960-1976)
Diego Armando Maradona was born on 30 October 1960 in the province of Buenos Aires. He comes from a very poor family and lives in the slum of Villa Fiorito. Later, he himself would say: "I was born in a private neighborhood of Buenos Aires… Deprived of water, electricity, telephone". So, it is in this environment that Diego begins to play football. Subsequently, Diego is spotted very young (10 years old) by a recruiter of the local club, Argentinos Juniors, while he passes the detections of this one. He quickly impressed everyone with his absolutely unique technical ability – he was able to juggle an orange as easily as a ball! – and the media are therefore quick to take an interest in him. Thus, at the age of 12, during an interview on Argentine television, he declared: "I have two dreams, to play a World Cup, and win it with Argentina". Prescient. His professional debut and his first difficulties (1976-1984) Maradona made his professional debut ten days before his sixteenth birthday in an Argentine league match with his team Argentinos Juniors. In the end, he spent five seasons there for a total of 115 goals in 166 games. Meanwhile, he began his legendary career with the national team on 27 February 1977 against Hungary. Nevertheless, he experienced the first big disappointment of his career in 1978 with his non-call-up to the World Cup organized at home, in Argentina, the coach considering him too young. The following year, however, he was part of the winning team of the World Cup of Hopes and was voted best player of the tournament. A little later, in 1981, he signed for Boca Juniors. In one season, he had time to score 28 goals in 40 games, including a double against eternal rivals River Plate, making him forever enter the hearts of Boca aficionados. After this remarkable season, he signed for a staggering amount at the time, a contract of $ 7.3 million at FC Barcelona. Just before his transfer took place the 1982 World Cup in Spain. Argentina did not make a great competition and was eliminated following a match against Brazil in which Maradona dropped a kick in the stomach of an opposing player. This means that his image is somewhat damaged before the start of the new season of the Spanish championship. Thus, his adventure in Catalonia, which lasted until 1984, was mixed, to say the least. Indeed, despite the fact that during his two seasons he won several trophies and was elected best player of the championship. For his first, he knows some setbacks on and off the field. On the one hand, he was stricken with hepatitis in December 1982 and then had his ankle broken by Andoni Goikoetxea, the official butcher of Athletic Bilbao. On the other hand, and this is one of the turning points of his life, he begins to use cocaine, an addiction that will follow him for a long part of his life.
"Who shows too high, approach the fall" (1984-1991)
This sentence perfectly defines this period in which Maradona is close to the summits – to the point of being seen as a god by some – then experiences a long descent into hell. It is really from this moment that the legend of Maradona is written. Without this period in which Maradona often rubs shoulders with the unreal, he would probably not have the place he has today in the football pantheon and in the collective imagination. So it is July 5, 1984, the day when Maradona is presented to 60,000 exalted Neapolitan fans but still very far from suspecting that they are in front of the one they will later consider as their god. Napoli paid $12 million to secure his services, an amount that would generate suspicion at the time – some say that the Camorra (the Neapolitan mafia) provided sufficient liquidity – because of the club's economic weakness. In short, Maradona arrives in a team of the soft underbelly of the Italian first division despised by other Italian teams because of the stereotypes sticking to the skin of Neapolitans. The first season is lackluster – a place in the middle of the table – but no matter, it is quickly forgotten. Indeed, two years later, Napoli is crowned champion of Italy for the first time in its history, three points ahead of Platini's Juventus. That year was also punctuated by a victory in the Coppa Italia, thus offering a national double to a team, a city not accustomed to so much success. Maradona thus becomes adored in an almost religious way, by a city grateful for all these successes and recognizing itself in this Argentine. Subsequently, he added another Italian championship and an Italian Supercup in 1990 and a UEFA Cup a year earlier to the club's list of achievements. Deified, Maradona is not only in Naples but also in Argentina thanks to the 1986 World Cup. Argentina won the competition in the final against West Germany and Maradona, with five goals, finished as the best player of the tournament. But it is not only this that will definitively inscribe him in the legend: it is the match between Argentina and England in the quarter-finals that will contribute greatly to his legend with in particular his two most mythical actions/goals. First of all, the first goal is, by his own admission at the end of the match, the "hand of God". Following a high ball, Maradona being too short to put the head with the goalkeeper arriving with his fist forward, he decides to put his hand. Fortunately for him and the Argentines, the referee, not having seen the hand, validates the goal despite the protests of the English players and an image that will go around the world. The second goal is, meanwhile, a pure masterpiece – considered today as one of the most beautiful goals in the history of this sport – not suffering from any challenge and showing Maradona's talent in all its glory. Indeed, Maradona, receiving the ball in his half of the field, eliminates two players and then goes into a slalom that sees him eliminate two other players and then the goalkeeper to finally score in the empty goal. Thus, Maradona is idolized in his country, in Naples and by a large part of the football fans: he is on top of the world. Nevertheless, this does not last. In selection, West Germany had its revenge in 1990 by beating Argentina 1-0, far from the level displayed four years earlier despite a place in the final. In club, same observation. Maradona is already – we will see later that this is only the beginning – at the center of several stories in 1989 including an illegitimate son, his links with the Camorra, his excesses of all kinds (drugs, alcohol, nightlife) and in particular his contacts with Olympique de Marseille. In addition, and most importantly in the eyes of Neapolitan fans, Maradona is not as good as he used to be. His positive cocaine test in March 1991 ended his Neapolitan adventure. In 1992, he transferred to Sevilla FC. Despite everything, Maradona, in the jersey of Napoli, it is 115 goals in 259 games, several trophies, an absolutely exceptional level of play and an indelible trace.
Disastrous end of career, failed conversion on the edges of the field and health problems (1991-2020)
Maradona's positive cocaine test in 1991 and the resulting fifteen-month suspension marked the beginning of his descent into hell. Indeed, he will never find the level that made him the idol adored by all. After a one-year whirlwind stint in Seville, another one-year whirlwind spell followed, also at Newell's Old Boys. Then came the summer of 1994 and the World Cup. He played two matches and scored his last goal for the national team before testing positive for ephedrine. Finally, he signed for Boca Juniors in 1995 for a final three-season freelance. Meanwhile, following his positive test at the World Cup, he was suspended as a player and took the opportunity to start his new coaching career. He had two failed experiences in Argentine clubs. His new experience as a coach came in 2008 and is certainly his best known: it was the Argentina national team, a team with which he enjoyed success as a player. However, this is not the case as a coach. Indeed, he spent a little less than two years at the head of the selection for only result a quarter-final at the 2010 World Cup, beaten by Germany 4-0. Moreover, this experience will not be beneficial for him from a media point of view, often sparring with journalists – some insults with sexual connotations in particular – and thus damaging his image with the Argentine people. Other more exotic experiences such as those of the Middle East and Belarus will punctuate his coaching career. Regarding his health, it will continue to deteriorate over time. Indeed, he was hospitalized several times for heart problems and carried out a detoxification treatment in Cuba in 2000. This is how Diego Armando Maradona died on November 25, 2020 of a cardiac arrest in his residence in Tigre, a suburb of Buenos Aires. In the end, what was Maradona? A prophet (not to say a "god" in his country? An idol for Neapolitans? A huge player for all football fans? A banner for the working classes around the world? A person who has often crossed the red line? A little bit of it all at once. And that's why he will never be forgotten.
