Diego Maradona: reaction to his death
Former Real Madrid player and Agentina team mate to Maradona, Jorge Valdano, has written an moving and eloquent piece for the Guardian. Valdano was a member of the Argentina team that lifted the World Cup in 1986 thanks to the mesmorizing exploits of the number 10.
"Those who screw up their faces sneering as they contemplate the latest incarnation of Maradona, the one who had difficulties walking, struggled to talk, embraced [the Venezuela president Nicolás] Maduro and did whatever he felt like, would be better off abandoning this farewell which embraces the genius and absolves the man. They will not find a single reproach here because the footballer had no flaws and the man was a victim. Of whom? Of me or of you, for example, who at some moment must have eulogised him pitilessly.
"There is something perverse about a life that fulfils all your dreams and Diego suffered the generosity of fate like no other. The terrible, terminal journey from human to myth divided him in two: on the one side Diego; on the other Maradona. Fernando Signorini, his fitness coach, a sensitive, intelligent man who may well have known him better than anyone else, used to say: “I would follow Diego to the end of the earth; I wouldn’t follow Maradona to the corner.”
Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona, in full Diego Armando Maradona, (born October 30, 1960, Lanus, Buenos Aires, Argentina—died November 25, 2020, Tigre, Buenos Aires), Argentine football (soccer) player who is generally regarded as the top footballer of the 1980s and one of the greatest of all time. Renowned for his ability to control the ball and create scoring opportunities for himself and others, he led club teams to championships in Argentina, Italy, and Spain, and he starred on the Argentine national team that won the 1986 World Cup.
Maradona displayed football talent early, and at age eight he joined Las Cebollitas (“The Little Onions”), a boys’ team that went on to win 136 consecutive games and a national championship. He signed with Argentinos Juniors at age 14 and made his first-division debut in 1976, 10 days before his 16th birthday. Only four months later he made his debut with the national team, becoming the youngest Argentine ever to do so. Although he was excluded from the 1978 World Cup-winning squad because it was felt that he was still too young, the next year he led the national under-20 team to a Junior World Cup championship.
Maradona moved to Boca Juniors in 1981 and immediately helped them gain the championship. He then moved to Europe, playing with FC Barcelona in 1982 (and winning the Spanish Cup in 1983) and then SSC Napoli (1984–91), where he enjoyed great success, raising the traditionally weak Naples side to the heights of Italian football. With Maradona the team won the league title and cup in 1987 and the league title again in 1990. Maradona’s stint with Napoli came to an end when he was arrested in Argentina for cocaine possession and received a 15-month suspension from playing football. Next he played for Sevilla in Spain and Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina. In 1995 he returned to Boca Juniors and played his last match on October 25, 1997.
Madonna trends online after people thought she died instead of Maradona
A case of mistaken identity for the non-footballing world
Parts of the non-footballing world prematurely mourned the death of Madonna after mistaking news of Maradona's passing as the death of the queen of pop.
Madonna started trending on Twitter on Nov. 26, 2020, after news broke that the Argentine great Diego Armando Maradona had died at age 60. Social media users thought the Like A Prayer singer had died -- mistakenly or purposely, no one can tell in this day and age of epic trolling -- when in fact it was football superstar Maradona who had passed away.
Maradona died of a heart attack, having undergone brain surgery earlier this month. He will be accorded a state funeral after the Argentina president declared three days of official mourning. Twitter was filled with RIP messages for the singer, 62, before there was a surge of tweets pointing out it was the sports star who had died.
