Diego Armando Maradona (1960-2020) was an Argentine football player and is widely considered one in all the best players of all time. a complicated playmaker who accustomed play within the classic number 10 position was given the nickname “El Pibe de Oro” (“The Golden Boy”), a reputation that cursed him throughout his career. Maradona is only 5 ft 5 inches tall and still was one among the strongest players around and was very hard to induce off the ball. His small stature gave him a coffee center of gravity and made his turning and dribbling almost impossible to accommodate, he often dribbled past multiple opposing players on a run. Not only his dribbling but his vision, passing, movement, leadership combined made him an excellent player whose presence always had a good impact positively on his team. He was the target man for many of the oppositions, a player oppositions always had to stay a watch on. But with a great name comes great responsibilities and Maradona didn’t live an easy life, he was a troubled character and his name was involved in many illegal activities and was even banned in 1991 and 1994 for substance abuse. He recently died (25 November 2020), at the age of 60 at his range in Tigre, port Province, Argentina.
Early life
Diego Maradona was born on 30 October 1960, at the Policlínico (Polyclinic) Evita Hospital in Lanus, Argentina. He was born in a very poor family and was the primary son after four daughters. He had two younger brothers still both of whom were football game players. Maradona’s parents were both born and noted within the town of Esquina within the north-east province of Corrientes. Maradona received a ball on his birthday at the age of three and since then he never looked back. His love for this game was eternal and was dedicated to this game from an awfully young age. Maradona was too good for his age, at the age of eight when Maradona came to Argentinos Juniors for trials, Francisco Cornejo (youth coach who discovered Maradona) was really struck by his talent and couldn’t believe he was only eight years old.
Career
Maradona made his professional debut for Argentinos Juniors on 20th October 1976 just 10 days before turning sixteen. He became the youngest player within the history of Argentine Republic Primera Division. Maradona spent five years at Argentinos Juniors scoring 115 goals in 167 appearances. Maradona then went on and played for seven different clubs in his professional career scoring a complete of 259 goals in 491 club appearances. Maradona in his professional career played for a few prestigious clubs like Barcelona and Napoli and his transfer to Barcelona in Spain was for a record transfer fee of £5 million ($7.6 million). He made his international debut at age 16, against Hungary on 27 February 1977. In his international career span Maradona scored a complete of 34 goals in 91 appearances. Maradona scored his first senior international goal in a very 3–1 win against Scotland at Hampden park in 1979. Maradona made 694 appearances and scored 354 goals for club and country combined, with a goal scoring average of 0.51.
Achievements
Maradona was undoubtedly one of the best players of all time. He had an incredible career winning almost every possible trophy for club and country. He won several individual trophies also and won the most effective player award for nearly every competition he played in. His biggest career achievement was winning the globe Cup in 1986. He captained Argentina national team to victory within the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, winning the ultimate in Ciudad de Mexico against European nations. He was the foremost dominant player of the competition scoring five goals and making 5 assists. The highlight of the planet cup was the quarter final match against England. Maradona scored twice and single handedly took Argentina to the semifinals. Argentina won 2-1 against England and both of Maradona’s goals became famous for completely different reasons. His first goal was very controversial as replays showed he touched the ball along with his hand instead of his head, but ultimately the goal stood since nobody saw it at the primary place and It became called the “Hand of God”. And jiffy later he went on and scored an out of this world goal which was voted by FIFA because the greatest goal within the history of the globe Cup. He dribbled past five English player’s before he left the goalkeeper on his backside with a feint, and slotted the ball into the net. This goal was voted “Goal of the Century” during a 2002 online poll conducted by FIFA. Maradona won the majority individual awards at club and international level but the largest of them was the FIFA Player of the century award. FIFA Player of the Century award created by FIFA to make a decision for the best player of the 20th century, announced at the annual FIFA World gala, held in Rome on 11 December 2000. Maradona and Pele were joint winners of the award.
Family and lifestyle
Maradona married long-time fiancé Claudia Villafane on 7 November 1989 in Buenos Aires, and they had two daughters, Dalma Nerea and Gianinna Dinorah. Maradona and Villafane divorced in 2004. While she is his only wife, he’s believed to own a string of affairs and was forced to just accept paternity of three children following their slash. In 2019 he accepted he was the official father of eight children. Maradona even after having an incredible career was hooked into many toxic things. He started doing drugs within the mid 1980s when he was in Barcelona. By the time he was playing for Napoli, he had a full-blown addiction, which interfered along with his ability to play football. From the mid-1980s until 2004, Maradona was obsessed on cocaine. When he was playing for Napoli, although he was successful on the sphere, his personal problems increased. His cocaine use continued, and he received US$70,000 in fines from his club for missing games and practices, ostensibly due to stress. He faced a lot of allegations and scandals throughout his career. On 25 November 2020, at the age of 60, Maradona died of an attack at his range in Tigre, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
Written By – Rituja Roy
Edited By – Priyanka Sukhwani