From The Archive: Diego - The Greatest of Them All
From the time of his passing in 2020, here are some reflections on the career of one Diego Armando Maradona. And no, I didn't need to look up his middle name.
There’s a story about Diego Maradona that will one day be used as the opening scene for the biopic of his extraordinary life. Growing up in poverty in the slums of Villa Fiorito, a suburb of Buenos Aires about ten kilometres from the city centre, Diego was just a toddler when he fell into an open sewer, and as an uncle pulled him from the effluence into which he’d fallen he shouted, “keep your head above the shit” to his infant nephew. Diego was saved, but the lesson taught to him that day would stay with him for the rest of his life.
It rather seems as though many, many lovers of football can identify the exact moment at which we first became aware of the existence of Diego Maradona. For me, it was during the 1982 World Cup finals, in Spain. To my nine year old mind, Maradona was an idea. There’d been hushed talk in the build up to the tournament of this wonderkid, possibly already the best player in the world, but we’d seen precious little of it throughout the group stages of the tournament other than a twinkling appearance in the Wembley murk a couple of years earlier which was rather overshadowed by England beating the world champions with a degree of comfort.
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