Diego Maradona

Diego Armando Maradona (Lanús, October 30, 1960-Dique Luján, November 25, 2020) was an Argentine soccer player and coach. As a player, he played as an attacking midfielder or striker, and is recognized by numerous specialists, ex-soccer players and international personalities as "one of the best soccer players in history". He has also been listed by some media as the "best player in the history of the World Cup", of which he was designated as the best player in its 1986 edition. In the FIFA Player of the Century awards he was selected as the "best footballer of the 20th century" in the vote popular, he obtained third position in the voting of the experts selected by FIFA, and achieved fifth position in the voting carried out by the IFFHS. In the edition of the Globe Soccer Awards 2012 he was distinguished as the best "Player of the Century xx". For his legendary figure in sports, which earned him the nickname Pibe de Oro, as well as for his extravagant, temperamental and charismatic personality, and for his troubled life outside of football, where f Suspended for doping in 1991 and 1994, Maradona is considered one of the most historic figures of the Argentine Republic, and one of its greatest representatives in the rest of the world. Likewise, his person has been the reason for the most varied references in Argentine and Neapolitan popular culture.

Raised in the neighborhood of Villa Fiorito, Maradona was signed to the youth divisions of Argentinos Juniors, where he spent five seasons, obtaining the record of being the top scorer in the Argentine championship five consecutive times. In 1981, he was transferred to Boca Juniors, where he won the Metropolitan Championship, his only title in Argentina. After the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Maradona became the first footballer to achieve the record of being the most expensive transfer in the world twice, when he was transferred to Barcelona for 7.30 million euros, and then to Napoli in Italy for 12 million euros. In Spain, Diego would obtain three national titles before ending up in Italy in 1984. There, Maradona became one of the most important public figures in Naples, leading the team to the scudetto on two occasions (1987, 1990) and the UEFA Cup, the institution's only international title. After seven seasons as a Neapolitan, in which he finished as the all-time top scorer, Maradona left Italy after obtaining his first positive for doping in the 1990-91 season. In the final stage of his career, he played in Seville and Newell's Old Boys to end up returning to Boca Juniors in 1995 and finally retiring in 1997.

With the Argentine National Team, Maradona was champion of the 1979 Youth World Cup, and with the seniors of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico as team captain, in which he would star in one of the most outstanding individual performances in the history of the sport, by scoring the two famous goals that gave victory to his team in the match against England in the quarterfinals, the first of them known as "the hand of God" and the second as the "Goal of the Century", designated by a FIFA vote as the best in the history of the World Cups of the XX century. In Italy 1990, Argentina almost he would repeat the same feat, but would end up as runner-up. After three years of absence due to his doping problems, Maradona returned to help Argentina qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the United States, a tournament in which Diego would again test positive for drugs when he found ephedrine in his samples, being expelled. of the competition, which contributed to the subsequent elimination of Argentina in the round of 16. This would be his last participation at the national team level as a player.

After his retirement as a soccer player, his impact as a player inspired the Maradonian Church, he was a television host in both Italy and Argentina, and vice president of the Boca Juniors Soccer Commission between 2005 and 2006, before launching his career as technical director. After brief experiences in the 1990s, in October 2008 Maradona was appointed coach of the Argentine National Team for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. After an agonizing qualification in the Qualifiers, Argentina would be eliminated in the quarterfinals against Germany in the tournament.. After his time in the National Team, he coached the Arab clubs Al-Wasl and Al-Fujairah, the second division Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa, and from 2019 until his death in 2020 Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata, of the Argentine First Division. In addition, he was honorary president of Dinamo Brest between July and September 2018.

Origins and football training

Maradona in 1973, during the Evita tournament.

Maradona was born circumstantially on October 30, 1960 at the Hospital Interzonal de Agudos Evita, in Lanús Oeste. He was the fifth of eight children, and the first son, from the marriage between Diego Maradona (1927-2015) and Dalma Salvadora "Tota" Franco (1930-2011). His siblings were Ana María, Rita "Kitty", Elsa "Lili", María Rosa "Mary", Claudia " Cali", Raúl and Hugo, the latter were also soccer players. His family, originally from Esquina, Corrientes province and of Galician descent, was based in Villa Fiorito, Lomas de Zamora district, a town located in the first cordon from the southern area of the Buenos Aires suburbs.

From the first moments in which he played ball, he was inclined to practice offensive soccer. Although he developed his game in a pasture in Fiorito called & # 34; Las Siete Canchitas & # 34;, his first contact with the world of soccer occurred in 1969, when he took the test to enter the lower divisions from the Argentine Juniors club. Los Cebollitas was the name of the 1960 class team, created by Francisco Cornejo to play the Evita National Games in 1973 and 1974, since the teams could not be registered under the name of the institution. The team won that tournament and the 8th division championship in 1974, and the squad remained with Cornejo until they turned 14, the age at which Argentinos could sign them to the Argentine Football Association.

This team, which went on to achieve an undefeated record of 136 games, played tournaments not only in Argentina, but also in countries like Peru and Uruguay. On September 28, 1971, when he was only ten years old, he appeared for the first time in the newspaper Clarín . The note said that "there was a kid with the bearing and class of 'crack', although in the note they called him "Caradona". Argentinos Juniors, since during the halftime of the Primera División matches he entertained them by juggling the ball. Due to this ability, he was summoned to one of the most watched television programs of the time, Sábados Circulares hosted by Pipo Mancera.

Trajectory in clubs

Beginnings in Argentinos Juniors (1976-1980)

Maradona, performing a cane in her first play on her debut day as a professional.

Debut season

Maradona's debut with Argentinos Juniors already generated high expectations at the club, although it had to be delayed, because he had to pay a five-date suspension for an expulsion in a match against Vélez for the seventh youth category. "I have the habit of talking too much on the pitch. The referee kicked me out after the end and I was given a five-date suspension" recalled Maradona years later.

His debut finally took place on October 20, 1976, ten days after his 16th birthday, for a National Championship match, when his Argentinos Juniors team faced Talleres, one of the best teams in the country. at that moment. Maradona was a substitute, and at halftime the team's coach, Juan Carlos Montes, asked him to come in and perform a "pipe"—pass the ball between the legs of another player. He entered with the number 16 jersey, as a replacement for Rubén Aníbal Giacobetti at the start of the second half. In the first play he participated, he hit Cabrera, Talleres' central marker, with a pipe, exciting the local fans. Referring to that afternoon, Maradona said: "That day I touched the sky with my hands." After the game, Maradona even received a small fee, but the biggest reward was the respect of the fans, as well as the press reviews:

“The entry of the Maradona boy (the 30th of the current is 16 years old) gave him greater mobility to the attack, but it was not the solution to seal in the Cordobese fence that greater possession of the ball. Because Maradona - a great skilled- had no one to touch"

In the next match against Newell's Old Boys, Maradona made the starting lineup. However, the match was unsuccessful for both Diego and the club, which lost 4-2. The following month, on November 14, he scored his first goal in a match against San Lorenzo de Mar del Plata. as much again. The goalkeeper was Rubén Alberto Lucangioli. Those were his only goals during that 1976 for Maradona.

Consolidation and exclusion from the 78 World Cup

In 1977 Maradona established himself in the team's starting lineup, and had a great season for El Bicho, playing 49 games and scoring 19 goals, along with his official debut with the national team Argentina. During a match against Huracán for the Metropolitan, it is said that Maradona scored one of the best goals in history, eluding the entire rival team from midfield. This event was later depicted in Jorge Porcel's film "Te rompo el rating", in which the actor this time interrupted his play. In December, he suffered the first expulsion of his career, playing against Belgrano at the Gigante de Alberdi. Argentinos would finish 9th in the Metropolitano, and would not make it to the final phase of the Nacional. However, due to his very good year, the main South American and European clubs began to "eyeball" to the young Argentine talent, but Diego rejected everyone, preferring to prepare for the World Cup in a calm environment, where Maradona was one of the candidates to be selected.

Maradona ante Chacarita in 1978.

By the beginning of 1978, Diego was shaping up to be one of those included in the World Cup that was held in Argentina. During the 1978 Metropolitan, his scoring average increased considerably, going from 0.35 last year to 0.71 during the current championship. However, despite his growing figure in Argentine soccer, for Menotti, the coach of the National Team at that time, Diego was nothing more than a figure of change and a project for the future, having played only 4 games at that point with the national team. That was how, despite entering the pre-summoned list, on May 19, 1978 Menotti announced the squad for the World Cup and surprisingly left Maradona out. Two days later, Diego played a match with Argentinos against Chacarita for the Metropolitano, where he scored two goals and was awarded a penalty. In the locker room, he would declare the following:

“Today is not a rematch for me. No way. Mr. Menotti thought I was room 10 and I had to go. I respect his position because he's the technician, but that doesn't mean he shares it. When I was informed that it was unaffected, it hurt me a lot. Explanations? No, they didn't give them to me of any kind. He didn't need them either. Valencia is the best 10 and must play, without dismembering Alonso or Villa. But he is the one who has the most overall vision.”

With the irruption of Diego, Argentinos Juniors would improve their performance of the previous year and would finish 5th in the Metropolitan. Maradona would finish as the tournament's top scorer for the first time in his career, with 21 goals, along with Luis Andreuchi. At Nacional, Diego would play 4 games and score 4 goals in a deplorable performance by the team that again failed to enter the final phase. In this year, he officially appointed Jorge Czysterpiller as his representative, who had represented him up to now but without any contractual relationship between them.

During the summer of '78, Maradona was very close to being transferred to Sheffield United. The new coach of the English team, Harry Harlem, came to Argentina through Antonio Rattín to see the matches of the young talent that he had been told about. Harlem was very impressed by Diego's skills, and a pre-deal was established with Argentinos for 200,000 pounds. However, the English club was allowed to pay only 160,000, so the pass fell through, and the club ended up signing another Argentine midfielder, Alejandro Sabella. According to Harry's son, Keith, an agreement was reached between his father and the Argentinos leadership to the tune of £400,000, but club director John Hassel rejected the deal, saying: "There is no 18-year-old player worth £400,000".

Argentinian soccer record scorer

Diego playing against Vélez during the 1979 Metropolitan.

Maradona's 1979 consecrated him as the greatest figure in Argentine soccer, distinguished mainly by his first successes in the Argentine National Team, winning the U-20 World Cup in Japan and playing in the Copa América. On the other hand, with Argentinos Juniors, Diego once again established himself as the top scorer in the Primera División, both for the Metropolitano and the Nacional, scoring 14 and 12 goals in both tournaments, respectively. At the end of the season, in which Argentinos finished 3rd in the Metropolitano and in the Nacional, Maradona won the Olimpia Award for Argentine Soccer Player of the Year and the Olimpia de Oro for Argentine Sportsman of the Year, scoring a total of 26 goals in 26 matches played.

Gatti and Maradona, in the previous match in which Argentinos won 5-3 Boca with four goals of Diego.

The following year, Maradona had his best season in Argentinos Juniors. He once again became the top scorer in the two Argentine championships with 25 and 18 goals, which allowed him to become the only player in the history of the Argentine Primera División to be the top scorer in the tournament 5 times in a row. The team obtained the runner-up in the Metropolitano that River Plate won. On September 14, Maradona scored his 100th professional goal against San Lorenzo. However, the excessive attention from the press and the constant absences in the key matches of Diego's tournament for the national team negatively influenced the performance of Argentinos in the final instances of the tournaments, not being able to crown a title as he would have deserved, both Diego as Argentinos. In Argentinos Juniors, already in October, on the eve of the club's match against Boca Juniors, Boca's goalkeeper, Hugo Orlando Gatti, said in an interview that Maradona was not a bad player, but the media they inflated his importance too much, and he also called him "chubby". In response, Maradona in the press called Gatti envious. Before the game, Gatti approached Diego and told him that he had not said anything like that, but Diego did not care: Maradona, angry with the goalkeeper's words, scored 4 goals for him. This match is recognized by many as Diego's best game in Argentinos Juniors. The last time Diego would be seen wearing the Bicho shirt would be on February 4, 1981, in a friendly against Villa Dálmine.

First step in Boca Juniors and only title in Argentina (1981)

Maradona, at the celebration of the 1981 Metropolitan Tournament.

Although Maradona had previously received offers to play for other clubs, such as the Colombian América de Cali, and the English Sheffield United, it was not until 1981 that he decided to leave Argentinos Juniors, due to his constant fights with Directive. The most important offer had been made by River Plate, who also offered him to earn the same money as the club's highest-paid player, Ubaldo Fillol. However, Maradona would end up being transferred to his greatest rival, Boca Juniors, a club that was going through a bad financial situation and was not in a position to buy his pass. During those weeks, he declared to an Argentine medium that they had taken away the "illusion of playing for River". This phrase would cause controversy and debates between which club Maradona really wanted to play for. Some time later, Diego admitted that he said that only to put pressure on the club to end up signing him, since he and his family had repeatedly mentioned his fans for the team., was loaned for a year and a half to Boca, which reserved the purchase option.

The contract was signed on February 20 and he made his debut two days later, again against Talleres. Unlike his debut with Argentinos, this time he got even and, with two of his goals, Boca beat his rival 4-1. right leg. However, he continued playing, until on March 8 a small tear was detected that kept him away from the stadiums until the 29 of that month. Days after his recovery, on April 10 he played his first superclassic against River, at La Bombonera. The game was played on a rainy night and ended with a 3-0 victory for Boca, with two goals from Miguel Brindisi and one of great quality from Maradona, in which he left Fillol and Tarantini on the ground with successive feints and dribbling.

The team that got the Metropolitan in 1981.

In his first months in Boca, Maradona suffered several inconveniences. At first, the relationship with Silvio Marzolini, as with many of the coaches who directed him, was not entirely good since it did not give him the same prerogatives that he had in Argentinos Juniors, and he had certain demands, in terms of concentrations and training sessions, which Maradona couldn't stand. In addition, the team suffered pressure from Boca's barra brava. On one occasion, after drawing four games in a row, the head of the bar José Barritta, nicknamed El Abuelo, entered armed along with several members of the fans to demand better results from them.

Despite these pressures, the team managed to have a good season. On August 9, a date before the end of the 1981 Metropolitano, Boca had the chance to become champion if they got a draw against Rosario Central, in Rosario. However, the match, in which Maradona missed a penalty, ended with a 1-0 win for Rosario. The rematch would be a week later against Racing Club at home, a match that ended 1-1 and gave him his only title won in Argentine soccer.

The 1981 National Championship was a failure, as the team lost in the quarterfinals against Vélez Sarsfield. This poor performance was due to the large number of friendly matches that Boca played to improve their financial situation, which ended up exhausting the players. In January 1982 the Summer Tournament was held, where Maradona would play his last matches in Boca since he then had to concentrate with the team for the World Cup in Spain. The last game was on February 6 against River, which ended in defeat. He would move away from Boca Juniors playing 40 games and scoring 28 goals.

Pass through F.C Barcelona (1982-1984)

1982-83

After its participation in the Soccer World Cup, in which the Argentine team stayed in Barcelona, its sale to Fútbol Club Barcelona was made official. The club paid 1,200 million pesetas for its pass, 80% of the money went to Argentinos Juniors who owned his pass and the rest for Boca Juniors, who had resorted to justice, to desist from his actions and the pass could be made abroad from Argentina, an important figure for the time. Maradona appeared for the first time time with the Barcelona shirt on August 3, 1982, at the Hindenburg stadium in Meppen in a friendly against SV Meppen. The first official match was on September 4, 1982, where, despite scoring a goal, his team lost to Valencia 2-1. In December 1982, having played 13 League games and scored 6 goals, hepatitis was detected and he had to leave the fields for three months. He missed 14 games League and the Cup Winners' Cup qualifiers of Europe, in which Barcelona, diminished by his absence, was eliminated. The German coach Udo Lattek, with whom Maradona had had various discussions, was dismissed, and the board hired the Argentine César Luis Menotti as the new coach.

Maradona and Mario Alberto Kempes in a match between Barcelona and Valencia.

Maradona reappeared on March 12, 1983, in a match against Betis, but Barcelona could no longer aspire to the League and only achieved fourth position, being six points behind the champion, Athletic Club. Maradona played 20 league games and scored a total of 11 goals. However, Barça had an excellent performance in the domestic cups, since on June 4, 1983 they won the Copa del Rey in Zaragoza against Real Madrid 2-1 with goals from Víctor and Marcos. On the 26th of that same month he won the League Cup, also against Real Madrid, with Diego Maradona scoring a goal in each of the two games in the final. The goal scored at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, which meant the victory for Barcelona, provoked an ovation from the Madrid fans, who recognized the beauty of the goal despite being scored by the rival team. Despite being out for four months due to hepatitis, the 1982/83 season closed well, with two titles, and Maradona considered one of the great stars of Spanish football.

1983-84 and famous injury

Maradona getting injured from the playing field.

The 1983-84 season started very badly for Maradona. On September 24, 1983, Barcelona and Athletic Club met at the Camp Nou, in the match corresponding to the fourth date of the League. The locals won 4-0 but, in the 59th minute, Maradona was taken off on a stretcher injured and with a broken ankle on his left leg (fracture of the external malleolus and ligament) after a hard challenge from Andoni Goikoetxea.

Maradona underwent surgery in Barcelona by Dr. González Adrió, and despite the fact that the first evaluations diagnosed a recovery period of up to six months, he reappeared only three and a half months later, on January 8, 1984, when he contributed two goals for Barcelona to defeat Sevilla 3-1. In the end, Maradona could only play 16 games that season, in which he scored a total of 11 goals, so he could not help Barcelona win the championship: he came third.

He was able to contribute, on the other hand, to Barcelona reaching the final of the Copa del Rey for the second consecutive year. During the semifinal, Maradona was sent off after seeing a red card, which initially prevented him from playing in the final. However, the Spanish federation decided to withdraw the sanction against the Argentine. Despite that, that match was the end point for Maradona at Barcelona. The same, played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid on May 5, 1984, pitted Barcelona against Athletic Club, the current league champion, with whom the Catalans had a tough rivalry. The game involved the reunion between Maradona and Goikoetxea, the player with whom he had the clash that caused the injury. The final was surrounded by great tension, both in the days before the match, with the exchange of insults, and during the match. In the end, Athletic won 1-0, but the worst came at the end of the match. When the referee whistled the end of the game, Maradona attacked the Athletic player Miguel Ángel Sola. The players from both teams engaged in a pitched battle, with punches and kicks included, before the eyes of all the spectators and the main Spanish authorities who were in the box. After the scandal that originated, several players were heavily sanctioned: the Spanish Football Federation imposed a three-month ban on Maradona without being able to play in Spanish competitions.

That sanction, which kept him away from the Spanish pitches until December 1984, was one of the reasons that pushed the president of Barcelona, José Luis Núñez, to accept an offer from the Italian Napoli to transfer the Argentine. the feeling of injustice that Maradona had before the sanction, and his weariness with respect to the referees and the Spanish football authorities. The player's feeling that the F.C. Barcelona board of directors had not sufficiently defended him against the Royal Spanish Football Federation increased the distance between Maradona and President Núñez, who had previously criticized him for considering that he did not take care of his life enough private, since night outings began to be constant in his life. Years later, Maradona acknowledged in his autobiography I am Diego, that his move to Napoli was also motivated by economic reasons, since his then representative Jorge Czysterpiller had mismanaged his financial investments. Maradona left Barcelona having played a total of 58 games and scored 38 goals.

The journalist Jimmy Burns, in the biography of Maradona entitled The Hand of God, revealed the hectic private life that Maradona had led in Barcelona, where he first came into contact with drugs. In his autobiography, Maradona confirms that his relationship with drugs began at that time.

Consecration in Napoli (1984-1990)

First seasons

Maradona in her historic presentation in Naples.

Napoli's original offer was a friendly match against Barcelona, with the idea of seeing Maradona play in Italy. Although Barcelona initially accepted the match, they later confirmed to the Italians that Maradona could not attend because he was "sick", although in reality they wanted to avoid possible injury, which had become a constant problem for Diego in the Spanish club. The president of Napoli, Corrado Ferlaino, stated that he had later been told that Maradona was actually fighting with the Barcelona leadership, so Ferlaino took the opportunity to make an offer. Finally, on June 29, 1984, Maradona's move to Napoli was confirmed for 1.3 million pesetas (8 million euros) and a four-year contract.

The presentation was on July 5, 1984, before a Stadio San Paolo that was attended by 75,000 Napoli fans, in what is estimated to be one of the largest presentations in football history. In the previous season the team had avoided relegation by one point, so the fans were excited about the player's arrival. Their debut in Serie A took place on September 16, 1984 against Verona, with a 3-1 defeat. The team could not find their way, in the first round of the tournament they only got 9 points. However, on February 24, 1985, in a match against Lazio, there was a turning point for the team, thanks to the outstanding performance of Maradona, who scored a hat-trick, which included an Olympic and Vaseline goal. Thanks to that, in the second round the team recovered and got 24 more points in the league won by Hellas Verona. Maradona achieved third place in the scorers' table, after converting 14 goals.

With the good performance of the 1984-85 season, the leaders realized that they could fight for the title, so they decided to improve the squad by hiring players who had performed well, such as Claudio Garella and Bruno Giordano, whom Diego had tried to convince during their confrontations on the field and who would end up becoming one of his great partners up front. In the 1985-86 season, the prelude to the World Cup in Mexico, Maradona's performance went from less to more in the year in which Napoli achieved a stupendous third position in the league won by Juventus, achieving a place in the UEFA Cup. Maradona on this occasion scored just 11 goals. In October 1985, Guillermo Cóppola became their new representative, replacing Czysterpiller.

Historical years of the club

Upon returning from the World Cup in Mexico, Maradona began an excellent season with Napoli. After the historic third place achieved the previous season, the team had been motivated to excel, added to the signings of Di Napoli and striker Andrea Carnevale. In that season they won the first scudetto in the history of the institution, and also won the Italian Cup. The Scudetto/Coppa Italia combination (double) was an achievement that only Torino, Juventus and Inter, all clubs from northern Italy, had been able to achieve up to that moment, which maintain a deaf and historic dispute with those of the south. Maradona scored ten goals in the tournament and was the top scorer of the title, which would mean his passage to the immortality of the Neapolitan institution.

Maradona together with Michel Platini, both considered the two best players in the world at the time.

After winning a scudetto and the World Cup, Maradona became one of the most important players in the world. The businessman Silvio Berlusconi wanted to incorporate him into AC Milan, however Maradona (with a certain social commitment to southern Italy) renewed his contract with Napoli until 1993, with a salary of five million dollars a year. During that season two of their children: Diego (the result of an extramarital relationship and recognized by Maradona 29 years later), on September 20, 1986, and Dalma, on April 2, 1987.

In the fourth season, 1987-88, Careca joined the squad, forming the formula MaGiCa (Maradonaradona, Giordano and Careca). In the first 19 games the team had achieved 87% of the points, however shortly after the end the team's performance began to decline and a decisive defeat against Milan at San Paolo, on the 29th, was decisive for that other team got the league. Napoli was in second place, three points behind the leader, and Maradona established himself as a scorer with 15 goals. Many accused the team of selling the tournament, due to pressure from those who handled clandestine betting. Some players, and especially Maradona, were linked to the camorra, something that was never proven.

Maradona playing with Napoli.

The 1988-89 season was very successful for Napoli. They once again secured second place in the league, eleven points behind the champions, Inter Milan. However, the most important achievement would come at the international level, by winning the club's first international title: the UEFA Cup. In the semifinals, they left the top candidate, Hans-Dieter Flick's Bayern Munich, where Maradona had a warm-up before the game where he was seen dancing in his untied lace-up boots to the song Live Is Life, one of the images that would become one of the most iconic moments in soccer history.. The final was played against VfB Stuttgart, in which Jürgen Klinsmann played, on May 3 and 17, 1989. The first game was won by Napoli, at the San Paolo, 2-1, while the The second ended with a tie in three goals. Despite this victory, Maradona wanted to be transferred to Olympique de Marseille, then chaired by the magnate Bernard Tapie, due to his wear and tear after five seasons in Italy. However, the request was denied by Ferraino.The joy would also move to the family level, in May of that year his second daughter was born: Gianinna.

The 1989-90 season was also memorable in the club's history: Napoli would win their second scudetto. Two dates from the end, both Napoli and Milan were in first position with 47 points. On that date, the 33rd, Napoli beat Bologna 4-2, while Milan was defeated 2-1 by Verona. On the last date, although they only had to draw to keep the title, the azzurri beat Lazio 1-0, getting the scudetto. Maradona was the third goalscorer of the tournament with 16 goals, behind Marco Van Basten with 19 and Roberto Baggio with 17. In December 1990 they also won the Italian Super Cup after beating Juventus 5-1.

First suspension for doping (1991)

After the World Cup in Italy in 1990, Maradona fired his agent Guillermo Cóppola and hired Marcos Franchi. In the football part, the 1990/1991 season would start successfully by winning the Italian Super Cup in December. However, he would not finish in the best way, since he would fail a doping control for the first time in his career. On March 17, 1991, for the 25th date, Napoli beat AS Bari 1-0 with a goal from Gianfranco Zola. After the game, Maradona was chosen for doping control, which would eventually test positive for cocaine. The Italian Federation imposed a sanction that would remove him from the stadiums for fifteen months, and Maradona and the club appealed to the Committee, even saying that it was revenge for what had happened in the World Cup last year.

Maradona decided to return to Argentina on April 1, and settled in Buenos Aires. On the 26th of that same month, a police operation raided the apartment that Maradona had in the Caballito neighborhood. The player was with two friends and drugs were found in his possession, for which he was arrested by the police A day later, after paying a bail of 20,000 pesos, he was released. Although no criminal proceedings were initiated against him, Judge Amelia Berraz de Vidal ordered him to undergo rehabilitation treatment. The Italian court sentenced him, in September 1991, to 14 months in prison suspended for drug possession.

While serving the suspension and undergoing rehabilitation treatment imposed by the courts, Maradona decided to participate in various benefit games. The one that had the greatest significance was the one carried out to help the family of Búfalo Funes, a prominent Argentine soccer player who died on January 11 of that year. However, on April 15, hours before this match was played, FIFA sent a fax to Julio Grondona, president of the AFA, which put his presence at risk:

In any case, and for the family of the deceased player, the presence of Maradona on the playing field along with other players enrolled in the AFA could lead to these last sanctions by FIFA, in application of the Regulations and Rules.

Maradona (2000), p. 217.

The other players decided that Maradona had to play that game, so they looked for alternatives such as using referees who did not belong to the AFA, paying the insurance policy in particular, and performing side kicks with their feet; With these differences, the AFA was not involved in the organization of the party and the sanctions could not be applied.

The party had a very high turnout with figures such as Oscar Ruggeri, Gareca, Roque Alfaro and sponsorship from companies such as X28 (alarms) and Sugus candies; it was televised and the royalties were donated to the family of the deceased player.

Seville (1992-1993)

Cover of the chart celebrating Maradona's return to football after her problems in Italy.

On July 1, 1992, the 15-month suspension imposed by FIFA expired and his pass was still in the possession of Napoli, a club that was seeking his reinstatement to the squad. But Maradona wanted to get away from Italy and play for a club that did not have great sporting demands. The first conversations for his transfer were with Sevilla and Olympique de Marseille, finally leaning towards the former, who paid the sum of 5.70 million euros for the pass, a large part of which was paid for by Silvio Berlusconi's current Mediaset company. However, given Napoli's refusal to authorize its transfer, FIFA's intervention was requested to unblock the conflict, which occurred on 22 February. September 1992.

Maradona signed for Sevilla at the insistence of Argentine coach Carlos Bilardo, then coach of the Sevillian team. However, Maradona still needed judicial authorization to leave the country, due to the problem he had had the previous year in his apartment in the Caballito neighborhood. After being authorized by the judge in the case, he was able to negotiate his contract and he joined Sevilla once the season started. His presentation occurred on September 28 in a friendly match against Bayern Munich, a team in which his friend Lothar Matthäus played.

He made his official debut with the Sevillian team on October 4, 1992, in a match corresponding to the fifth date of the League. Curiously, Sevilla's rival was Athletic Club, the same club against which he had played his last game in Spanish football eight years earlier. Three days later, at the Sánchez Pizjuán, he scored his first official goal with the Nervión team and it would serve to give the Seville club victory.

Despite the good start to the season, Diego would begin to have problems with the managers due to his constant night outings and missing training sessions. This caused the club to end up hiring a detective, who followed his activities outside the field.In addition, at that time he suffered from an old knee injury, which is why he played undercover in many games. During halftime of the game played with Real Burgos on June 13, 1993, Maradona asked for the change due to this injury, but Bilardo asked him to continue, so the team doctor gave him three injections of an anti-inflammatory in the knee.. However, at minute 53, Bilardo decides to replace him with Pineda, provoking the ire of the player who publicly insulted the coach. This episode finished breaking relations between Maradona and the leadership.

That was his last game, since two months later he returned to Argentine soccer. Maradona played a total of 26 La Liga games, in which he scored five goals (two from play, two from penalties, and one from a free-kick against Celta on the road) and gave nine assists in the league championship. Also in the Cup he added another penalty against Mérida. In total there were 29 games, 6 goals and 9 assists. Sevilla finished La Liga in seventh position with 43 points, 15 behind champion Barcelona.

Return to Argentine soccer: Newell's Old Boys (1993-1994)

Maradona being airlifted by her peers on her return to Argentine football in Newell's.

In 1993, he returned to Argentine soccer, this time with the Newell's Old Boys jersey. But at first the negotiations were on track for his return to Argentinos Juniors, until an episode occurred that would ruin the negotiation and determine his incorporation into Newell's: he was threatened by a group of ' 34;Bug" demanding the delivery of $50,000. In turn, San Lorenzo de Almagro was about to hire him through his friend, Oscar Ruggeri, who was part of the club at that time. However, the differences with the president Fernando Miele caused the negotiation to fall at the last moment.

On September 13, 1993, the first training session arrived and 40,000 people had gathered to see it, in the middle of a party organized by coach Jorge Raúl Solari. On October 7, 1993, a friendly match was held to celebrate Maradona's debut with the Newell's shirt, against Emelec from Ecuador. His official debut took place on October 10, losing 3 to 1 against Independiente as a visitor. Maradona would also play the matches against Belgrano, Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata, Boca Juniors and Huracán. During this last match, played on December 2, 1993, he suffered a muscle tear that would take him away from the pitch for a few weeks. At this point in the championship, Solari had left the technical leadership, and his relationship with the new coach, Jorge Castelli, was not good, since he did not allow him some licenses that he had agreed with the previous coach, in addition to the fact that he had been the one who had given him closed the doors in San Lorenzo. This was one of the reasons that precipitated the departure of Maradona, whose last game at the club was a friendly against Vasco da Gama played on January 26, 1994. He played five official matches for Newell's Old Boys, without convert goals.

On February 2, Maradona attacked with a compressed air rifle a group of journalists and photographers who were guarding the door of his country house located in Moreno and for this act he was later sentenced to two years in prison in suspense and to indemnify the journalists attacked.

Retirement from football at Boca Juniors (1995-1997)

Maradona in her historic return to Boca Juniors during 1995.

First lap

After spending the first months of 1994 without a club, and sanctioned throughout the 1994-95 season, Maradona's dream for his return to football was to be a coach and player for Boca Juniors, but there were two important problems; The first was that at that time the technical leadership was again in charge of Silvio Marzolini, and the leadership had no interest in firing him. The second was economic, the financial situation in which the club found itself did not allow the payment of the sums to which he was accustomed. The first was solved at the initiative of Maradona, since he gave up becoming a coach, and the second at the initiative of various businessmen willing to contribute money, including Eduardo Eurnekian.

Once the contract that sealed his return to Boca was signed, Maradona began to get in shape for his debut day. Waiting for the day, he had a small participation in the film The day Maradona met Gardel , starring Alejandro Dolina and Esther Goris. But he also carried out activities related to soccer, since on September 28 he founded the World Soccer Players Union in Paris, which later would not acquire much relevance, together with soccer players such as Éric Cantona, George Weah, Gianluca Vialli, Gianfranco Zola, Laurent Blanc, Tomas Brolin, Raí, Ciro Ferrara and Michel Preud'homme.

His official return was in Seoul on September 30, in a match against the South Korean National Team that Boca won 2-1. A few weeks after his debut in the Argentine tournament, he received another recognition: he was summoned to give a conference at the University of Oxford. In the first tournament, the Apertura 1995, Boca Juniors did not have a good campaign since they only got fourth place. This produced the disapproval of the fans at election time. The club ended the tournament with a new president, Mauricio Macri, and with the departure of Marzolini from the technical direction.

The new year began with problems, because the club's board of directors had decided to hire Carlos Bilardo as technical director. As a consequence of the fight they had at Sevilla, Maradona initially threatened to leave the club if Bilardo took over, but later decided to support him. Another of the problems was with the leadership, since Macri wanted to reduce the bonuses that would be granted to the squad in the event that the sporting objectives were met. Despite this, Boca came to fight for the title but lost all chances after losing against Racing, in the famous farewell to Piojo López, in which Maradona missed his fifth consecutive penalty. On August 11, 1996, Boca played against Estudiantes de La Plata for the penultimate date of the Clausura Tournament, with no chance of winning the tournament. After the match, which ended in defeat, Maradona would leave the stadiums and only return 11 months later. The championship was won by Vélez Sarsfield, while Boca only got fifth place.

That year, Maradona carried out the “Sun without drugs” campaign, organized by the Argentine government. Within the framework of the campaign he had to mention the negative aspects of drug use, and, as he expressed it, «I do the Sol without drugs campaign for the kids. Drugs exist everywhere and I don't want kids to catch them. I have two girls and I thought it was good to say all this, a father's obligation... I was, am and will be a drug addict».

Second return and retirement

Maradona during her last year in Boca and her last season of her career.

A few days after leaving the activity, Maradona traveled to Switzerland to check into a clinic that would help him with his addiction to cocaine. But the doctor who was treating him gave a press conference telling details of his hospitalization, which led to his return to Buenos Aires. His health problems would not be left behind, on April 7, 1997 he had to be admitted to a hospital after suffering a blood pressure problem during a Chilean television program called Viva el lunes hosted by Cecilia Bolocco, Álvaro Salas and Kike Morandé broadcast on Channel 13.

On April 21, he signed the contract that would determine his return to Boca Juniors, whose technical direction was in charge of Héctor Rodolfo Veira, hiring Ben Johnson as a physical trainer since he needed to get in shape. His return occurred on July 9, against Newell's Old Boys. On August 24, he played the game in which Boca defeated Argentinos Juniors 4-2. After that, he was drawn to perform the anti-doping control, which would finally test positive for the presence of benzoitilecgonine and methylecgonine, cocaine metabolites. This caused the AFA to impose a provisional suspension until the results of the test were known. counter-proof, which would also give a positive result. Maradona had filed a police complaint in July, due to alleged telephone calls in which they threatened to put drugs on him. Judge Claudio Bonadío verified these threats, and after a request presented by the The player's lawyers ordered a measure not to innovate, forcing the AFA to withdraw the provisional suspension until a DNA test was carried out on the urine analyzed to verify that it belonged to the player. This allowed Maradona to continue competing, but the judge It also provided that an anti-doping control should be carried out 24 hours after each match. The DNA study could not be completed, due to the small amount of genetic material found in the samples that the AFA had sent to the institution in charge of doing it, the PRICAI (First Argentine Center for Immunogenetics). Given this impossibility, when Judge Bonadío lifted the measure of not innovating against the provisional suspension of the AFA, which finally would not happen before the player's retirement, this institution could apply the corresponding sanction.

Despite being able to play, in a match against Colo-Colo for the Super Cup he suffered an injury that would keep him inactive for several days. He would only play again on October 25, 1997, in the match that Boca Juniors defeated River Plate 2-1 as a visitor, being replaced at halftime by Juan Román Riquelme. That would also be his last official match, as he announced his retirement from professional soccer on the same day as his 37th birthday, October 30.

With the Argentine National Team

First calls and World Youth Champion (1978-1979)

Maradona together with Rubén Paz during the South American to Uruguay in 1979.

Despite having played several matches for the national team during 1978, that year César Luis Menotti did not call him up to play in the World Cup due to his youth. Maradona was concentrated along with twenty-four other players in a property located in José C. Paz, used by the Argentine Football Association as a training place, when on May 19, 1978 Menotti told him that he was not going to take him into account for the World Cup that would be played in Argentina; Alonso, Villa, and Valencia were summoned in his playing position; Curiously, Bochini, admired by Maradona, was not called up for the contest either. After that disappointment, he rejoined the Argentinos squad that was to play against Chacarita Juniors. In that match he scored two goals and gave two assists, which helped the team from La Paternal win by 5:0.

After the 1978 World Cup, where Argentina won its first Cup, Menotti began to prepare the juniors for the World Cup that would be played the following year in Japan. For this he organized several friendlies with the youth team, and summoned several of those players, including Maradona, to play in the senior team. His first goal with the senior team was scored on June 2, 1979 against Scotland in Glasgow, where Argentina beat the locals 3: 1. The team qualified for the World Cup together with Uruguay and Paraguay, in the South American Youth Championship held in Montevideo.

August 26, 1979 was the debut of the team in the Youth World Cup, against Indonesia, which ended with a 5:0 victory for the Argentines. Two victories followed that allowed them to win the group: 1:0, on August 28, against Yugoslavia and 4:1 against the Polish team on the 30th. The albiceleste team qualified for the after beating Algeria 5:0 in the quarterfinals, a match in which Maradona did not play, and Uruguay 2:0 in the semifinals. The final was played on September 7 in Tokyo against the Soviet Union, ending with a 3:1 Argentine victory. Maradona converted one of the goals and was chosen the best player of the tournament.

First World Cup and failure in Spain 82 (1981-1982)

The preparation for Spain 82 included a four-month concentration. Before the start of the World Cup, Maradona's move to FC Barcelona had already materialized, so there was a lot of expectation in Spain for the performance of the Argentine player. That same expectation existed in Argentina with the national team, since the achievements obtained in the previous World Cup and in the Youth World Cup excited soccer fans.

The Argentine national team debuted on June 13 against Belgium, in Barcelona. The first game ended with a 1:0 defeat at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. The second match was a 4:1 win over Hungary, where he scored his first two World Cup goals. The 2:0 victory against El Salvador, for the last game of Group C, meant the classification of the Argentine team to the second round.

The second round was constituted, at that time, by a phase of four groups whose winner qualified for the semifinals. Group 3 was made up of Argentina, Italy, who won the tournament, and Brazil. The first game was played on June 29, and it was a 2:1 defeat against Italy. The second and last game was another 3:1 defeat against Brazil, a match in which Maradona was sent off after violently kicking Batista. In this way, Argentina was eliminated from the World Cup, disappointing the expectations that existed in the country.

World Champion in Mexico 1986

Team building

After the 1982 World Cup there were several changes in the Argentine team. The most important was the change in technical management, since Carlos Salvador Bilardo had replaced Menotti. The second was a change in the captaincy: while the representative captain during the Menotti era was Daniel Passarella, during the Bilardo era it would be Maradona; This would be one of the reasons that, years later, would start a fight between the two. However, since his expulsion in the second round of the World Cup, on July 2, 1982, until May 10, 1985, he did not play any game for the albiceleste, because Bilardo wanted to build his team with players who played in the Argentine soccer. The return, after almost three years of absence, took place in a friendly against the Paraguayan national team played in Buenos Aires, in preparation for the 1986 Soccer World Cup qualifiers. The match ended with a 1:1 draw, with a Maradona's goal.

Maradona turning Olympic in the Aztec Stadium with the World Cup in her hands.

The group in which Argentina had to qualify was made up of Venezuela, Colombia and Peru. The debut took place on May 26, in a tough match against Venezuela in San Cristóbal. The match ended with a 2:3 victory, with two goals from Maradona and one from Passarella. It would be followed by a 1:3 victory against Colombia on June 2 in Bogotá, another 3:0 victory over Venezuela on June 9 in Buenos Aires, another 1:0 victory over Colombia on the 16th of that month, also in Buenos Aires, a 1:0 defeat against Peru on the 23rd in Lima and a two-goal draw against the same team in Buenos Aires. This last game, played on June 30, allowed the Argentine team to qualify for the World Cup, relegating Colombia and Peru to the playoffs, which Paraguay would ultimately win.

The poor performances during the preparation matches for the World Cup did not generate enthusiasm among Argentine fans: a 1:1 draw against Mexico on November 17, 1985; a 2:0 loss to France on March 23, 1986; a victory by the minimum difference, 1:0, against the Grasshopper-Club Zurich on April 1; a 7:2 victory against Israel on May 4 and a goalless draw against Junior de Barranquilla on the 15th of that month.

The first game in the World Cup was played against South Korea on June 2, at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario. It was a 3:1 victory, with two goals from Jorge Valdano and one from Oscar Ruggeri. The second game was against the defending champions, Italy, on June 5 in the city of Puebla. The match ended 1:1, with a goal from Maradona in the 34th minute of the first half. The third and final game of the group stage was against Bulgaria on June 10, again at the Olímpico. The 2:0 victory, a goal from Valdano and another from Jorge Burruchaga, allowed them to get first place in Group A and qualify for the round of 16. During this phase, both Maradona and Valdano criticized the FIFA authorities for scheduling matches at noon, because although this time was functional for television broadcasting, the high temperatures could affect the health of the players.

In the round of 16 they had to face Uruguay, in the classic Rio de la Plata duel, on June 16 in Puebla. The Uruguayan team had qualified as the best third, in Group E, so at first it seemed like an accessible game despite the presence of Enzo Francescoli. However, Argentina won only 1:0, with a goal by Pedro Pasculli, a well-known scorer for the 1984 and 1985 champion Argentinos Juniors, who was working at the time, transferred by Argentinos Juniors, at Club Lecce in Italy.

Against England

Maradona pointed out the second goal to England in Mexico 1986: the Gol of the Century.

In the quarterfinals they had to face England, in the most remembered match of Maradona's career. The match also had non-soccer connotations, since the Malvinas War had taken place four years earlier, which also led to incidents in the stands between Argentine and English supporters. The match, played on June 22 at the Azteca Stadium in La Mexico City, had two of the most remembered goals in the history of the World Cups, popularly known as the Goal of the Century and the hand of God. The "hand of God" occurred at minute 51, when the English defender Steve Hodge mistakenly rejected the ball towards his own goal and, in a ball played between Maradona and the English goalkeeper Peter Shilton, the Argentine player raised his left fist hitting the ball and converting the goal. The name of the goal is due to the statements made after the game, when when asked if he had converted it with his hand, he replied "I didn't touch it, it was the hand of God". In the second, chosen in 2002 as the best World Cup goal (“Goal of the Century”), Maradona started from his own half and eluded six English players (Glenn Hoddle, Peter Reid, Kenny Sansom, Terry Butcher, Terry Fenwick and goalkeeper Shilton) before finishing and converting the goal. The 2:1 victory, the discount was marked by Gary Lineker, allowed Argentina to reach the semifinals.

The two goals he scored in that match gave name to an economic theory known as the Maradona Effect or Maradonian Theory

Champion

Maradona during the victory of Argentina in 1986.

The semifinal was on June 25 against Belgium, also at the Azteca. The Belgians had reached that instance after qualifying as the best third in Group B, beating the Soviet Union in the round of 16 and Spain on penalties in the quarterfinals. The game turned out to be less complicated than expected: a 2:0 win with two goals from Maradona.

The final, played again at the Azteca, was against West Germany on June 29. The match started well for the Argentines, José Luis Brown scoring the first goal after 23 minutes and Valdano extended the lead at 55. However, two headed goals, one from Rummenigge at 74 and another from Völler ten minutes from time In the end, they tied the game. Three minutes after Völler's goal, Maradona, surrounded by three Germans, maneuvers and places an impossible assist on Burruchaga, who scores the third and last goal of the match. It was the only time that Argentina beat Germany in a World Cup.

With this 3:2 victory, Argentina won its second World Cup, and Maradona, as captain, was in charge of lifting the cup. After their return to Buenos Aires, they met with the President of the Republic, Raúl Alfonsín, and went out to the balcony of the Casa Rosada to greet the people who had filled the Plaza de Mayo.

Statistics

Diego Maradona established himself in the World Cup in Mexico, scoring five goals and giving five assists in the seven games he played.

Maradona in the 1986 World Cup
Date	Stadium	Party	Goles	Assistance	Phase
02/06/1986	University Olympic Stadium, Mexico, D. F., Mexico	Argentina 3 - South Korea 1	0	3	Group phase
05/06/1986	Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla de Zaragoza, Mexico	Argentina 1 - Italy 1	1	0	Group phase
10/06/1986	University Olympic Stadium, Mexico, D. F., Mexico	Argentina 2 - Bulgaria 0	0	1	Group phase
16/06/1986	Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla de Zaragoza, Mexico	Argentina 1 - Uruguay 0	0	0	Final Octavos
22/06/1986	Estadio Azteca, Mexico, D. F., Mexico	Argentina 2 - England 1	2	0	Final rooms
25/06/1986	Estadio Azteca, Mexico, D. F., Mexico	Argentina 2 - Belgium 0	2	0	Semifinal
29/06/1986	Estadio Azteca, Mexico, D. F., Mexico	Argentina 3 - Germany 2	0	1	Final

Runner-up of Italy 90

Pass from Maradona to Claudio Caniggia, for the goal of victory against Brazil.

After the World Cup in Mexico, the Argentine team had not been able to maintain soccer supremacy. In the 1987 Copa América he had obtained fourth place, while in 1989 he was in third place. Despite this, the team had arrived at the training center that it would use as a base in the 1990 World Cup in Italy, located on the outskirts of Rome, with the intention of repeating the previous performance.

Maradona and Guido Buchwald at the end of the 1990 World Cup.

The debut was against Cameroon, on June 8 at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium in Milan. Despite what was expected, Argentina fell 1:0. The recovery was on June 13, against the Soviet Union in Naples. Thanks to the presence of Maradona, who was constantly encouraged by the Neapolitans, the Argentine team was home to San Paolo and was able to achieve a 2:0 victory. The third group game, against Romania on June 18, was also played in Naples. The game ended with a draw on one goal, allowing Argentina to qualify as the best third. In the match, Maradona suffered a blow to his left ankle that made it difficult for him to play during the tournament, since he had to be infiltrated in all the matches.

The classification of the albicelestes as the best third party produced the match in the round of 16 with Brazil. The match, played on June 24 in Turin, was widely dominated by Brazil, until in the eightieth minute Maradona assisted Claudio Caniggia, with a spout included, who converted the goal. Following the victory, Argentina beat Yugoslavia on penalties in the quarterfinals. In the semifinal, they beat Italy in Naples, also on penalties, after a 1-1 draw. Argentina was defeated 1:0 by West Germany in the cup final. Despite not showing off like in the previous World Cup, Maradona was awarded the Bronze Ball.

Return to the United States National Team and World Cup (1993-1994)

Agonizing classification

Maradona fighting for a ball before Australia for reposing to the United States 94.

Since his return to soccer, after his first suspension, Maradona had only played two games for the Argentine team: against Brazil, for the centenary of the AFA, and against Denmark, for the Artemio Franchi Cup, which faced the champion of the Copa América with the Eurocopa champion. After those matches, the technical director, Alfio Basile, did not call him up for the Copa América or the 1994 World Cup Qualifiers. Deprived of their greatest star, the Albiceleste had a poor performance in said Qualifiers, and after the 5:0 defeat against Colombia on September 5, 1993, the only chance for Argentina to qualify for the World Cup was by winning the playoffs against the Australian team, a unique situation in the history of Argentine soccer. An impressive popular pressure was then generated for Diego to return to the national team, something more complicated than it seemed at first glance due to some internal quarrels within the albiceleste team. On September 23, 1993, Basile officially asked him to return, Maradona resolved his differences with some old references in a meeting with Ruggeri in which "everything was settled in ten minutes", as revealed later, and they traveled to the oceanic country, a place that the national team visited for the second time in its history., being Abel Balbo who converted the Argentine goal after a pass from Maradona. The rematch was played on November 17 in Buenos Aires, when the Argentine team qualified after winning 1:0, with a goal from Gabriel Batistuta.

He also participated in four friendly matches before the World Cup. The AFA canceled a tour that the selection had to carry out in Japan because that country denied him a visa to travel due to his history with drugs. However, other matches were held, against Ecuador, Croatia and Israel, the latter was a cabal of the selection since the 1986 World Cup.

Suspension for doping

Upon arriving in the United States, Argentina stayed at Babson College, a place that the AFA had designated as a base. The debut was on June 21 against Greece, with a 4:0 win. In that game, Maradona scored his last goal in the World Cup, culminating in a collective play that included successive touches by the Argentine players. The second match, against Nigeria, also ended with a 2:1 victory for the Argentines. During this match, Maradona was drawn by lot to undergo an anti-doping control. Diego Maradona walked out slowly hand in hand with Sue Carpenter (dressed as a nurse even though she wasn't). According to journalistic versions, the Argentine cardiologist Roberto Maximino Peidró would have told the nurse "Go look for Maradona so you can be on the cover of all the newspapers".

Maradona being removed to the antidoping by Sue Carpenter.

During the days before the match against Bulgaria, his agent informed him that the test had come back positive, which would surely leave him out of the World Cup. And so it was: the tests detected five prohibited substances: ephedrine, norephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norpseudoephedrine and metaephedrine, for which he was suspended for fifteen months, and he had to leave the Argentine concentration. The team, considerably affected by the loss, and even after being defeated 2:0 by Bulgaria, qualified for the round of 16, where they were eliminated by Romania, with a goal by Hagi, then nicknamed "the Maradona of the Carpathians".

Maradona argued that he had not tried to take advantage of sports, but rather that these drugs were in a flu medication given to him by his personal trainer, bodybuilder Daniel Cerrini. Cerrini made a mistake when purchasing an over-the-counter energizer - therefore unsuspected as a prohibited stimulant - whose brand name is Ripped, which came in two versions: Fuel or Fast. The difference was also in the packaging: one had a black background with red letters and the other the other way around, a red background with black and yellow letters. Maradona took the one with pseudoephedrine and the control - at that time incipient - tested positive.

It was on this occasion that he said his well-known phrase "they cut off my legs". Julio Grondona, the president of the AFA, would blame the player twelve years later, stating that "he cut his legs by himself". The match against Nigeria in Boston was the last played by Diego for the Argentine national team, playing a total of 91 games and scoring 34 goals.

Paradoxically, the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) that began to function officially in 1999, came to the conclusion that the amount ingested was not enough to be considered doping. Maradona's was the first case that this agency studied to evaluate future changes in the regulations, as the amount of pseudoephedrine and its derivatives found in his urine called attention. According to later sources, the positive for which Maradona was suspended would not have been classified as such in subsequent decades with the new scales used.

Gamer Profile

Style of Play

Described as a "classic number 10" In the media, Maradona was a traditional playmaker who generally played in a free role, either as an attacking midfielder behind the forwards or as a second striker in a forward double, although he was also used as a striker on occasion. midfielder with attacking roles in a 4-4-2 formation.

Two images (in a match against Lazio and during a training) that show the control of Maradona ball.

Maradona was known for his dribbling, vision, ball control, passing and creativity, and is considered one of the most skilled players in the game. He had a compact physique, and with his strong legs, low center of gravity and balance, he could withstand physical pressure from opponents well while running with the ball, despite his small stature, while his acceleration, quick feet and agility, combined with his dribbling skills and control at speed, allowed him to change direction quickly, which made him difficult for opponents to defend against.

Maradona is considered one of the best dribblers in the history of soccer. Former Dutch player Johan Cruyff noted similarities between Maradona and Lionel Messi when they dribble with the ball attached to their feet. Diego's physical strengths They were illustrated by his two goals against Belgium in the 1986 World Cup. Although he was known for his tendencies to make individual runs with the ball, he was also an intelligent team player and tactician, with excellent awareness of spaces in the pitch, as well as being very technical with the ball. He could manage himself effectively in confined spaces and would draw defenders only to quickly get out of melee (as in the second goal against England in 1986), or to provide an assist to a free teammate. Being short but strong, he could hold the ball long enough with a defender on his back to wait for a teammate to make a run or to find an opening for a quick shot. He always displayed leadership qualities on the pitch and captained Argentina in their 1986, 1990 and 1994 World Cup campaigns. While primarily a creative playmaker, Maradona was also known for his finishing and scoring ability. goals. Former Milan manager Arrigo Sacchi also praised Maradona for his ability to work defensively off the ball in a 2010 interview with Il Corriere dello Sport.

Maradona during the Mexico World Cup 1986.

A natural leader on and off the pitch, whenever there was a problem he spoke on behalf of the players. Maradona's skill as a player and his temperamental personality had a major positive effect on his team, with his 1986 World Cup teammate Jorge Valdano stating:

"Maradona was a technical leader: a guy who solved all the difficulties presented to him in the playing field. First of all, I was in charge of making miracles happen, that's something that gives a lot of confidence to the fellows. Second, the extent of his fame was such that he absorbed all the pressures on behalf of his teammates. What I mean is: one slept deeply the night before a game not only because you knew that you were playing alongside Diego and Diego did things that no other player in the world could do, but also because we unconsciously knew that if it were to lose, then Maradona would carry more with the criticism of defeat than the rest of us. That was the kind of influence he exercised on the team."

Praising the "charisma" de Maradona, another of his Argentine teammates, the legendary striker Gabriel Batistuta, stated: "Diego could command a stadium, for all to see." I played with him and I can tell you how technically decisive he was for the team." Former Napoli president Corrado Ferlaino commented on Maradona's leadership qualities during his time at the club in 2008, describing him as "a coach on the pitch".

One of Maradona's signature moves was to dive down the right wing of the field to dribble with his skillful leg diagonally into the opponent's box and have an angle in his favor to deliver precise passes to his teammates. Another trademark was the rabona, a cross pass in which the leg that hits the ball passes behind the leg that supports the entire weight of the body. This maneuver led to several assists, such as Ramón Díaz's header cross against Switzerland in 1980. In addition, he was also a well-known user of roulette, a feint in which he performed a 360° spin with the ball in control; Due to his fondness for using this move, he has even been described as the "Maradona spin" on occasion. in the media. He was also a dangerous free-kick and penalty taker, due to his ability to hit the ball with spin from corners and set pieces. Considered one of the best set-piece specialists in all time, his free kick technique, which often saw him raise his knee at a high angle when striking the ball, allowing him to lift it over the wall, allowed him to score free kicks even from close range, inside from 22 to 17 yards (20 to 16 metres) from goal, or even just outside the penalty area. His style of taking free kicks influenced several other specialists, including Gianfranco Zola, Andrea Pirlo and Lionel Messi.

The "hand of God" is one of the most controversial plays in football history.

Maradona was famous for his shrewd personality. Some critics see his controversial "Hand of God" at the 1986 World Cup as a clever move, with one of the English players, Glenn Hoddle, admitting that Maradona had cheated on him by shaking his head while tapping the ball. The goal itself has been seen as an embodiment of the Buenos Aires town Maradona grew up in and its concept of criollo vivaciousness, "the cunning of the criollos". Although critical of the first illegitimate goal, England striker Gary Lineker conceded: 'When Diego scored that second goal against us, it made me want to applaud. I've never felt that way before, but it's true... and not just because it was such an important game. It was impossible to score such a beautiful goal. He is the best player of all time, by far. A true phenomenon." Maradona used his hand in the 1990 World Cup, again without penalty, and this time on his own goal line, to prevent the Soviet Union from scoring. Various publications have referred to Maradona as the Artful Dodger of soccer, the pickpocket urchin of Charles Dickens' literary work Oliver Twist.

Maradona was predominantly left-footed, often using his left foot even when the ball was positioned more appropriately for a right-foot connection. His first goal against Belgium in the 1986 World Cup semifinal is a worthy indicator of this; he had run to the right inside channel to receive a pass, but let the ball travel to his left foot, requiring more technical skill. During his run against several England players in the lead up to the 'Goal of the Century', he did not use his right foot once, despite spending the entire movement on the right side of the pitch. In the 1990 World Cup second-round tie against Brazil, he used his right foot on Claudio Caniggia's game-winning goal because two Brazilian markers forced him into a position that made the use of his left foot impossible. was less practical.

In public opinion

Considered to be one of the best bargainers of all time, Maradona (in the photo bargaining with the ball against Belgium in 1986) had excellent ball control and often performed races against the rivals.

Maradona is widely considered the best footballer of his generation. He is named as one of the best in history by players, coaches and specialists, and is considered by some to be the best of all time. As one of the most skilled players in the sport, he is also considered one of the best dribblers and free kick takers in history. A privileged talent in his youth, in addition to his skillful shooting style game, Maradona was also praised by César Luis Menotti, his coach in his early days with the Argentine national team, for his dedication, determination, and work ethic that he displayed in order to improve the technical aspect of his game in training, despite his natural talents, with the coach noting: "I am always cautious when using the word "genius.". I find it difficult to apply that even to Mozart. The beauty of Diego's game has a hereditary element, his natural facility with the ball, but it also owes a lot to his learning ability: many of those brushstrokes, those 'genius' brushstrokes, are in fact the product of your hard effort. Diego worked very hard to be the best." Maradona's coach at Napoli, Ottavio Bianchi, also hailed his discipline in training, commenting: "Diego is different from the one they try to represent. When you had him naturally, he was a very good boy. It was beautiful to watch and train him. Everyone talks about him not training, but it was not true, because Diego was the last to leave the field, he had to be thrown out because otherwise he would spend hours inventing free kicks." However, as Bianchi noted, despite that Maradona was known for making "big plays" and do things "unimaginable" with the ball in training, even going through moments of rigorous physical exercises, he was also known for limited work without the ball, and even earned a time of infamy in Italy for his absences in training with Napoli, while sometimes he preferred to train on his own rather than with the team.

In Diego Maradona, a 2019 documentary about his life, Maradona confessed that his weekly regimen was based on "playing a game on Sunday, partying until Wednesday, and then go to the gym on Friday". Despite his inconsistent training regimen, Asif Kapadia, the documentary's director, commented in 2020: "He had a peculiar metabolism. He looked incredibly out of shape, but then he would train and sweat like crazy come game day. His body shape didn't look like a footballer's, but he had that skill and balance. He had a certain way about him, and the idea of talking honestly with him about how a typical week went by was pretty amazing." He also revealed that Maradona was ahead of his time in terms of having hired a personal physical trainer —Fernando Signorini— who prepared him in different aspects, in addition to his general physical condition, adding: "While he [Maradona] was in a soccer team, he had his own work regimen. How many players would do that? How many gamers would even know how to think like that? 'I'm different from others, so I need to train what I'm good at and what I'm weak at.' Signorini is very cultured and intelligent. He was literally like, 'This is the way I'm going to train you, read this book.' I helped him psychologically, talked to him about philosophy and things like that." Other than that, Maradona was notorious for his poor diet and dangerous life off the pitches, including his use of illicit drugs and alcohol abuse, which, Along with his personal problems, metabolism, prescription medication, and periods of inactivity and suspensions, they ended in his gains in weight and physical decline during the progress of his career; his lack of discipline and his difficulties in his turbulent personal life are noted by some critics of the sport as influences that negatively impacted his performances and longevity during the later years of his career.

A controversial figure in the sport, although he was acclaimed by players, coaches and pundits for his style of play, he was also criticized in the media for his temperament and controversial behavior, both on and off the field. In 2005, Paolo Maldini described Maradona as the best player he has ever faced, and also the most honest, stating: "He was a model of good behavior on the pitch, he was respectful of everyone, from the great players to the member most ordinary team. He was always kicked and he never complained, not like some of the forwards today." Also a Milan player, Franco Baresi, replied "Maradona." when asked who was his biggest opponent; "When he was in good shape, it was almost impossible to stop him," while his Italian defender Giuseppe Bergomi described Maradona as the best player in history in 2018. Zlatan Ibrahimović said his attitudes off the pitch shouldn't matter, and should only be judged by his impact on the pitch. "For me, Maradona is more than football. What he did as a footballer, in my opinion, will be remembered forever. When you see the number 10, who do you think of? Maradona. It is a symbol, even today there are those who choose that number for him", he said.

Today your skills would give you greater protection. At that time, they simply served as the red rag of provocation that would ensure that he would be the victim of brutal challenges wherever he played. The rules changed as a direct result of some of the injuries Maradona received. When I interviewed him a few years ago, he told me he thought that players like Lionel Messi owed him a lot because some of the tickets he had endured would never be allowed today. - Guillem Balagué writing for the BBC in 2020 about 'the magician, the cheater, the god, the imperfect genius'.

In 1999, Maradona was ranked second behind Pelé in World Soccer magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Players of the 20th Century". Along with Pelé, Maradona was one of two winners "FIFA Player of the Century" in 2000, and also placed fifth in the "IFFHS Election of the Century". In a 2014 FIFA poll, Maradona was voted the second-greatest number 10 of all time, behind only of Pelé, and later that year, he was ranked second in The Guardian's list of the 100 greatest World Cup players of all time, leading up to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, once again behind Pelé. In 2017, FourFourTwo ranked him number one on their list of "100 Greatest Players," while in 2018, he was ranked number one by the same magazine on their list of "Best Soccer Players in World Cup History"; in March 2020, he was also ranked first by 90min.com's Jack Gallagher in his list of 'The 50 Greatest Players of All Time'. In May 2020, Sky Sports ranked Maradona as the best player who never won the UEFA Champions League or the European Cup.

Post-retirement, other jobs and health problems

Exhibition of the Maradona T-shirt at the Barcelona Museum.

In March 1998, months after announcing his retirement, the possibility arose that he would play again, this time for the All Boys club led by Sergio Batista. However, Maradona ended up rejecting this opportunity, which would ultimately remain ruled out, along with any possibility of return, when Judge Bonadío lifted the precautionary measure that prevented the AFA from sanctioning him.

After moving away from professional soccer, Maradona dedicated himself to more than one activity, among other various occupations, he was a sports commentator, vice president of the Boca Juniors Football Commission, television host, and made various advertisements. He also participated in numerous charity soccer matches, and was a luxury guest at events in various sports in addition to soccer, including basketball, boxing, field hockey, rugby, and tennis.

This stage of his life was also affected by serious health problems caused by his drug addiction, which led him to carry out, with greater or lesser success, long rehabilitation processes both in Argentina and Cuba. In September 2000 he published his autobiography, titled “I am Diego” , in which he reviewed his soccer career and confessed the origins of his drug addiction.

In January 2000, Maradona was admitted to intensive care at the Sanatorio Cantegril, while on vacation in the Uruguayan city of Punta del Este. The player entered the clinic with a hypertensive crisis and a picture of ventricular arrhythmia. His representative, Guillermo Cóppola, explained that the hospitalization was not due to a drug problem, but rather that Maradona suffered from hypertension. However, traces of cocaine were found in the blood and urine tests, for which Maradona had to testify before the Uruguayan justice, since consumption, although it was not punishable, was considered a "misdemeanor". After leaving the clinic, on January 18 of that year he traveled to Cuba to begin rehabilitation treatment, residing in that country for several years. Many years later, Jorge Romero, the doctor who treated him in Punta del Este, commented on the situation that put the idol on the verge of death: “If we didn't hospitalize him, he would die in a few hours. He would stop breathing for periods of five or six seconds” .

After his retirement, Maradona waited more than four years to play his farewell match. It was held on November 10, 2001, at La Bombonera, in a match between the Argentine team and a team of stars. The Argentine team, led by Marcelo Bielsa, had the presence of players like Roberto Ayala, Juan Sebastián Verón, Javier Zanetti and Pablo Aimar. The all-star team, led by Alfio Basile, was made up of players of the stature of Enzo Francescoli, Éric Cantona, Davor Šuker, Juan Román Riquelme, Carlos Valderrama, Hristo Stoichkov, Nolberto Solano and René Higuita, among others. After the match, an emotional Maradona gave a speech, accepting mistakes, in which he uttered another of his well-remembered phrases: "I was wrong and I paid, but the ball doesn't get stained".

In 2003, Diego Maradona ended two of his most important relationships: with his wife Claudia Villafañe and with his agent and friend Guillermo Cóppola. His wife filed for divorce on March 7 for leaving home in 1998, after being married for more than 13 years. Maradona and Villafañe were married on November 7, 1989, at a large party held at the Luna Park stadium in the City of Buenos Aires. With Cóppola he ended the contractual relationship and the friendship that united them, later initiating a lawsuit for alleged money owed.

Maradona in 2004 together with Néstor Kirchner, president of Argentina at the time.

In April 2004, Maradona once again suffered a major health problem and was admitted to the Clínica Suizo-Argentina in Buenos Aires. The clinic authorities stated that the player had suffered "a hypertensive crisis, with a baseline picture of dilated heart disease." Maradona had returned from Cuba three weeks earlier to visit his family, and his media appearances prior to hospitalization did not show no kind of problem. Maradona's heart problems were aggravated by his drug addiction, so, after his health stabilized, he was admitted on May 9 to the "Del Parque" neuropsychiatric clinic to begin detoxification treatment. After three months of hospitalization, Maradona requested judicial permission to continue his treatment in Cuba. The player could not leave the clinic without the consent of his family, who exercised his custody under judicial authorization. In addition, the advisor for Minors and Disabled Elena Bortiri, promoted, with the consent of his family, the disqualification of Maradona due to his drug addiction, based on article 152 bis of the civil code. The disqualification is issued to protect the individual, and their family, from their own acts, limiting their legal capacity. Despite Maradona's request, who met with President Néstor Kirchner to ask him to mediate in the situation (although in the end the issue was not discussed at the meeting), the treatment continued in Argentina.

Maradona in a charity match in June 2006, one year after being subjected to a gastric baipás.

After quitting sports, and due to his excesses with food and drugs, Maradona increased considerably in weight, reaching 120 kilos in February 2005. In March 2005, he underwent bariatric surgery (gastric bypass) in the city of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, for the control of obesity and other problems related to being overweight. Thanks to surgery and a strict diet, Maradona lost more than 50 kilos in a few months. Once his health problems were overcome, they offered him to host a television program that would be broadcast on Channel 13. This materialized on August 15, 2005 with the first broadcast of his program, La noche del 10. As a guest for the first program, he chose Pelé, with whom he had had a media confrontation for years. The program had interviews with various personalities, but the most important event was the interview with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, with whom he had a friendly relationship since his time on the island. On November 7 of the same year, the last program of the cycle was broadcast from Luna Park, and had the American boxer Mike Tyson as its main guest. The program was the winner of the 2005 Clarín Espectáculos Awards in the categories Best Entertainment Program and Best Production; being Maradona chosen the Figure of the Year. In addition, he obtained the Martín Fierro in the Comprehensive Production category.

Diego Maradona in 2007 together with Ricardo Enrique Bochini, former soccer player of the Independent Atletic Club and Diego idol during his childhood.

While hosting his television show, he also participated in the second season of the Italian version of Dancing with the Stars on RAI, which he finally resigned due to problems with the Italian tax authorities and because of how exhausting it was to travel to that country twice a week.

In November 2005, Maradona gained political relevance by being one of the main figures in the Cumbre de los Pueblos, also called the counter-summit, in opposition to the IV Summit of the Americas. His participation began on the 3rd of that month when he boarded the Expreso del Alba, a train that left from Buenos Aires and carried 160 passengers who would participate in the counter-summit, including were the then candidate for the presidency of Bolivia Evo Morales. The Summit of the Peoples, where the opposition to the FTAA and the repudiation of George W. Bush were manifested, was attended by Maradona himself, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, Silvio Rodríguez, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo. His participation sparked the anger of various political leaders, including Mexican President Vicente Fox.

On March 28, 2007, he was admitted to the Sanatorio Güemes, due to excesses with alcoholic beverages. He was diagnosed with "acute, toxic, chemical hepatitis", for which he had to remain hospitalized until April 11, when the doctors released him. Two days later he had a relapse and had to be transferred by ambulance to the Madre Teresa de Calcuta hospital in the town of Ezeiza, and later referred to the Sanatorio de los Arcos in the city Buenos Aires. He remained there until April 21 when he decided to enter the Avril psychiatric clinic, to treat his addiction to alcohol. After more than two weeks of treatment, during which rumors of his death began to circulate, he left the clinic on May 6 and was discharged the following day.

Sports ambassador and new TV show

After his work as a coach, he began to exercise the function of sports ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, while his son Diego was born on February 3, 2013. In 2014, Maradona would return to a journalistic role by signing a contract with the teleSUR channel, leading the program De Zurda together with the Uruguayan Víctor Hugo Morales. the National University of La Plata with the Rodolfo Walsh Award. It was not the first time that Maradona exercised the role of commentator in a Soccer World Cup. In the 1994 edition in the United States, after being expelled for taking ephedrine, he commented on the match between his country and Romania for the round of 16, while he also worked during the 2006 World Cup in Germany for the television channel Spanish Four.

Career as a technical director

First experiences (1994-1995)

Maradona had to serve the 15-month suspension imposed by FIFA during the 1994 World Cup, after stimulant substances were detected in an anti-doping control. The suspension, which expired on September 15, 1995, prevented him from performing as a soccer player, but not as a technical director. Thanks to this possibility, he began negotiations to find a club, which came to fruition on October 3, 1994 when he assumed the technical leadership, in a duo with Carlos Fren, from Deportivo Mandiyú. His debut as coach was on the sixth date with a 2: 1 defeat against Rosario Central, a game in which Maradona had to lead from the audience since he was not authorized to sit on the substitute bench. The fights with the leadership led him to resign on December 6, after two months of work. He would not carry out a good campaign with the club, since during his ephemeral tenure he led 12 games in which he achieved 1 win, 6 draws and 5 losses.

After Mandiyú left, he rehired Guillermo Cóppola as his representative, moving away from Marcos Franchi. On January 6, 1995, again with Fren, he was hired to lead Racing de Avellaneda, a club that had not won a championship since 1966. The campaign at Racing was also short, lasting only 4 months. He led 11 games in which he achieved 2 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses.

Coach of the Argentine National Team (2008-2010)

Maradona as technical director of the Argentine selection, in August 2009.

In October 2008, after the resignation of Alfio Basile, Maradona was presented as the new coach of the Argentine National Team at a press conference, accompanied by Carlos Bilardo as Coordinator of National Teams.

His debut took place on November 19, 2008 at the same stadium (Hampden Park), and against the same rival (Scotland), for whom he scored his first goal for the national team. The match ended with a win by 1-0, with a goal from Maximiliano Rodríguez.

The official debut took place on March 28, for the 2010 World Cup qualification, against Venezuela. The match, played in Buenos Aires, ended with an Argentine victory by 4-0.

His second game in this competition was played on April 1 against the Bolivian team, in La Paz. The result was 6 to 1 for the locals, in one of the biggest wins that the albiceleste team received. Later, he asked the AFA to change the venue for the match against Brazil to the city of Rosario, justifying the need to public pressure on the rival. Finally, the match ended 3-1 in favor of the Brazilians, this being the second defeat at home for Argentina in the entire history of qualifiers. During the following week, added a new drop in the team against Paraguay, Maradona affirmed that he would continue in office. Some public controversy was generated, encouraged by sports journalism, about his abilities for the position.

On October 14, 2009, the National Team led by Maradona got a ticket to the World Cup, by winning against Uruguay at the Centenario Stadium and thus securing fourth place in the South American Qualifiers. After qualifying, Maradona surprised with strong statements, bordering on insults, against the journalism that had questioned him. Due to them, on November 15 the FIFA Disciplinary Committee prohibited him from engaging in any activity related to football for two months and, in addition, fined him 25,000 Swiss francs.

In the final phase of the Soccer World Cup in South Africa, the Argentine team shared Group B with Nigeria, South Korea and Greece. The first Argentine match was played on June 12 against Nigeria, in Johannesburg. Argentina prevailed by the slightest difference with a goal from Gabriel Heinze six minutes into the game. His second game was against South Korea on the 17th in that same city, in which he thrashed 4:1 thanks to the three goals converted by Gonzalo Higuaín. The last group match, with a team made up mostly of substitutes, the albiceleste beat Greece 2:0, with goals from Martín Demichelis and Martín Palermo.

In this way, Argentina qualified for the round of 16 and had to face Mexico. The 3:1 victory, with two goals from Carlos Tévez and one from Higuaín, gave them a pass to the quarterfinals where they played against Germany, being thrashed 4:0 and being eliminated from the World Cup. That was the last game he led the Argentine team, since on July 27 the AFA decided not to renew his contract because Maradona did not accept the changes in the composition of the coaching staff that had been proposed to him. It should be noted that Maradona summoned a total of 108 players to the Albiceleste team.

Al Wasl (2011-2012)

Maradona as an Al Wasl technician.

After numerous rumors of offers to be manager of the Ukrainian soccer team or Aston Villa, Maradona finally traveled to the United Arab Emirates, more precisely to the city of Dubai, to take over the technical management of Al Wasl.

The contract that binds Diego Maradona for two years as coach "is valued at around 34.5 million dollars," according to the club from the United Arab Emirates. To honor him, they suppressed the club's number 10 jersey; In addition, he brought Mariano Donda (Godoy Cruz), Edson Puch (Universidad de Chile), Juan Manuel Olivera (Peñarol) and Richard Porta (Nacional) as reinforcements.

In his debut (August 28), he faced Kalba in a friendly match with a 3:1 victory. the United Arab Emirates First Division.

In December of that year, the Soccer Federation of the United Arab Emirates applied a sanction of three games of suspension, plus another of 2,700 dollars; This situation is due to the dispute with the coach of Al Ain, Cosmin Olaroiu. Al Wasl was fined 20,000 dirhams. In addition, he was a candidate to be the coach of the United Arab Emirates soccer team to qualify and participate in Brazil 2014, as acknowledged by the interim president of the federation of that country, Yousuf al Serkal.

In March 2012, Maradona assured his intention to renew as coach of Al Wasl and even expand his functions to be a plenipotentiary manager, as in England. However, in the middle of the year he was sacked due to poor results.In December 2013, rumors spread that he could manage the Iraqi national football team, but these never materialized.

Al Fujairah, Dinamo Brest and Dorados de Sinaloa (2017-2019)

Maradona as coach of Al Fujairah S.C.

On May 7, 2017, Maradona was confirmed for one season as manager of the UAE Second Division club Al Fujairah. After failing to gain direct promotion to the First Division, he ceased to be the team's manager, that he would finally get promoted in a repechage without him in charge.

In July he was presented as the new president of Dinamo Brest of Belarus.

In September 2018, he was hired to be the Technical Director of the Dorados de Sinaloa club, in the second category of Mexican soccer. He had a good season (18 wins, 10 draws, and 7 losses). Despite the fact that there was an agreement for Maradona to continue for two years in charge of the Culiacán team, which he led in two Ascenso MX tournaments and deposited it in the finals (which he lost against Atlético San Luis), on June 13 In 2019, it was reported that Diego was leaving technical driving to focus on his shoulder and knee injuries, the latter affected by significant osteoarthritis that prevented him from walking. "Together we surprised the world. We show that football is passion and heart. With Diego de Sinaloa, #LaHicimosDeDiez. Thanks for everything, Chief! Get well and see you soon!", published the "Big Fish" on his Twitter account.

Gymnastics and Fencing La Plata (2019-2020)

Since his return to Argentina, Maradona had received several polls to lead in Argentine soccer. Defense and Justice (after the departure of Sebastián Beccacece), Gimnasia La Plata, Belgrano de Córdoba and Nueva Chicago, among others, consulted his environment about his availability. And although Maradona had promised to focus on his health, finally on September 5, 2019 he was confirmed as the new coach of Gimnasia La Plata, to try to recover him from his last position in the Argentine Super League and possible relegation to the Second Division.

Consistent with the fanaticism that Maradona always aroused in Argentina, the club added, from Thursday to Sunday, three thousand new members, thus increasing its corporate mass by 10%. To meet this demand, in Gymnastics they had to triple the attention structure: normally prepared to receive 200 new members a day, in four days it had to manage around 600 procedures each day (with peaks of 800). In fact, to the 3,000 who have just been welcomed, we must add at least 600 more than -even without official data- the club calculates that they signed up that Monday, and as many per day until the debut of the new coach against Racing Club, the champion. On October 30, 2020 and coinciding with his 60th birthday, Maradona made his last appearance on a soccer field leading his team, which would end up defeating Patronato 3-0.

Cultural Impact

Grafiti de Maradona made by the followers of the Maradonian Church.

Both in Argentina and in Naples, Maradona became a symbol, a "sports hero". Starting from the supposed democratic base of sport, the hero not only represents the desired achievement, but also the common character of starting opportunities. Unlike the mythological hero or the medieval knight, the lower the social and cultural condition of the sports hero, the greater his representativeness in the popular sectors. This adherence is greater if, in addition to belonging to a economically disadvantaged sector, does not renounce the repertoires and grammars that derive from that sector. In the case of Maradona, the myth of his confrontation with the "powerful" must also be added, leaders of the federations and teams of northern Italy, as a representative of the "oppressed", the poor of southern Italy.

Regarding the idolatry that exists in Argentina regarding Maradona, his former teammate Jorge Valdano declared in June 2006 to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung:

At the time Maradona retired from active football, she left Argentina traumatized. Maradona was more than a great footballer. It was an extraordinary compensation factor for a country that in a few years lived several military dictatorships and social frustrations of all kinds. [Valdano added that Maradona offered the Argentines] an exit to his collective frustration and that is why people worship him there as a divine figure.

The sociologist Eliseo Verón agrees when he says that Maradona reflects «the collective beliefs and needs, of the dispossessed, of the poor, of those who need to believe that God is close and that is why they identify with Diego, as before with Evita ».

An example of this idolatry is the Maradonian Church. In Argentina and various parts of the world there is this parody of religion related to the cult of Maradona as the supreme God. For them, 1961 is the year 1 AD, "after Diego", and marks the beginning of the "Maradonian era". Also during his hospitalization in 2004, many fans of the player approached the doors of the Suizo-Argentina Clinic and pasted posters with messages of support on the walls. Among them messages could be read such as "You will always live, God does not want competition", "Beard (God): you already gave him a hand, we are waiting for the other", "Do not loosen up that you are going out. You can't lose. Don't forget that Maradona plays for you» or «Jesus rose once. You, thousands". Currently, a monument has been made to him located in the Museum of the Boquense Passion. and a statue located in the city of Bahía Blanca, as well as other sculptures in different parts of the world.

Queen members meet Diego Maradona during their tour in Argentina in 1981

Although this fanaticism has its foci in Argentina and Naples, his soccer career has been recognized on numerous occasions. Various surveys place him among the best players in history. A survey carried out by FIFA in 2000 on its website stands out, which won widely with 53.60% of the votes (followed by Pelé with 18.53% and Eusebio with 6.21%). He obtained third place in the survey carried out among the readers of FIFA Magazine and the FIFA Football Committee, behind Pelé and Alfredo Di Stéfano. He was also voted the second best player in the world. of all time, only after Pelé (122 points), in a vote made by the Ballon d'Or winners in 1999.

In addition to the different recognitions given by official organizations and sports publications around the world, Maradona received an important recognition from Argentinos Juniors. On December 26, 2003, the club of its debut finally reopened its stadium located in La Paternal, which it called Estadio Diego Armando Maradona, a name made official on August 10, 2004. It was also awarded by the Senate of the Argentine Nation, when In June 2005, he was awarded the Domingo Faustino Sarmiento prize for his career.

Several artists have paid homage to Diego Maradona through their songs. This is the case of the late quartet singer Rodrigo Bueno, who sang the song "La mano de Dios." Los Piojos also did the same with "Maradó", Los Calzones with "Yo te sigo", Mano Negra with "Santa Maradona", Andrés Calamaro with "Maradona", Claudio Gabis and Charly García with "Maradona Blues", Los Ratones Paranoicos with "Forever Diego", Attaque 77 with "Sniper", Los Cafres with "Captain Pelusa", Las Pastillas del Abuelo with "What is God?", and Manu Chao with "La vida tombola", among others. The song "And give joy to my heart" by Fito Páez, was not originally dedicated to Maradona, although it was later related to him.

On March 30, 2007, a biographical film was released in Italy, directed by the Italian Marco Risi —with a script by Manuel Valdivia, César Vidal and Manuel Ríos San Martín— entitled Maradona, la mano di Dio. In 2008, the documentary Maradona by Kusturica, directed by director Emir Kusturica, was released. On June 14, 2019, the documentary Diego Maradona by Asif Kapadia, which contains unpublished archive images from the time in which the Argentine soccer player played in Naples. On November 13, 2019, the documentary series Maradona in Sinaloa that portrays the Maradona's passage through the technical direction of the Mexican team Dorados de Sinaloa.

On October 29, 2021, the web series Maradona, blessed dream premiered through the Amazon Prime Video video-demand platform, showing different moments of his life and his football milestones. The launch was accompanied by an avant premiere on October 28, which consisted of a special broadcast on Channel 9 of the first episode of the series "Promesa", from the Argentinos Juniors pitch, where Maradona took his first sports steps. The event also featured the stars of the series and live music where Valeria Lynch stood out performing "Me das cada día más", a song associated with Maradona, and Juanse performing "Para siempre Diego". The series stars Juan Cruz Romero, Juan Palomino, Nazareno Casero and Nicolás Goldschmidt —who play Maradona at different stages of his life— Julieta Cardinali and Laura Esquivel —who play Claudia Villafañe at different times of his life — Mercedes Morán, Rita Cortese, Pepe Monje, Claudio Rissi, Peter Lanzani, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Marcelo Mazzarello, among others. Before its premiere, it was confirmed that the series had been renewed for a second season of 10 episodes with a premiere date to be confirmed.

Legal disputes

Paternity Lawsuits

Diego Maradona, one of his children.

Cristiana Sinagra filed a lawsuit in Italy for Maradona to acknowledge the paternity of her son, named Diego. On May 6, 1992, after Maradona refused three times to take the DNA test, judge María Lidia de Luca confirmed paternity, authorizing Sinagra to use the last name and ordering the Argentine player to pay him a monthly payment of $4,000. Father and son met for the first time in May 2003 at a golf course in the Italian city of Fiuggi, after Diego Maradona Jr. fooled the security of the place, and they talked for forty minutes. Despite this meeting and the fact that the sentence was confirmed in 1995, Maradona continued to declare in October 2005 on his television program that "accepting is not recognizing." I have two daughters with my love of a lifetime. Their names are Dalma and Gianinna. I am paying with money for my past mistakes. A judge forced me to give him money, but he cannot force me to feel love for him" the auction of a property that Maradona owned in Moreno. But after a series of extrajudicial negotiations between the parties, the auction was suspended. Finally, on August 26, 2016, 21 years after the sentence, Maradona publicly recognized Diego Jr as his son, with whom he had an affectionate relationship ever since. However, Sinagra has not been the only unrecognized illegitimate child. In 1996 a daughter was born from her relationship with Valeria Sabalaín, named Jana. After again refusing to take the DNA tests, judge Graciela Varela determined in the first instance, after the player refused five times to take the test, that Maradona was the girl's father, authorizing her to bear the last name and in 2001 he ordered the player to give him 2,000 pesos a month. The sentence was confirmed by Chamber I of the Chamber of Appeals on June 29, 2001. In 2004 he reached an agreement with the mother of the minor: they agreed to pay 400,000 pesos and a monthly payment of 2,400 that the company Aceites y Esencias Patagonicas promised to send him, to which the player had assigned commercial rights. comply with the obligation, a criminal case was initiated in which, after paying and committing to a monthly payment of 2,700 pesos, he was dismissed. The court verified that the person responsible for making the payments demanded by the plaintiff was Guillermo Cóppola, and what was he? who had failed to comply. At the end of 2005, a new filiation trial was initiated by an alleged son of the Argentine player. The parents of the child, named Santiago, would be Maradona and Natalia Garat, who died in November 2005.

Gender violence and sexual harassment

In October 2014, a video recorded how Maradona hit Rocío Oliva, his partner, while they were in Dubai. In the filming you can see how the ex-soccer player hits her twice and then yells at her twice to stop using her cell phone. Previously, in June 2014, photos of Rocío Oliva appeared with bruises caused by Maradona, detailing other occasions where the ex-soccer player he had hit her. However, in June 2020, in an interview on the television program Intrusos, Rocio Oliva assured that Maradona never used gender violence on her, stating that in the video that was broadcast the former soccer player never hit her, but he took his cell phone.

Yekaterina Nadólskaya, a Russian journalist, accused Maradona of trying to take off her clothes while she was trying to interview him in his room. Channel 5 in St. Petersburg offered a totally different version of the events: according to the television network, the journalist began to undress in front of Maradona and she made a scandal when they asked her to leave. The journalist filed the complaint with the authorities.

Problems with the tax authorities

Another of the problems he had was with the Italian tax authorities, to whom he owed more than 34.2 million euros, accused of evading taxes during his last two years in Naples. However, the journalist Gianni Miná expressed that the directors of S. S. C. Napoli told several of the players to make two contracts, one as footballers and the other for the exploitation of their image. The Treasury interpreted this as evasion, and since Maradona did not request an amparo as several of his colleagues did and there was a law that significantly increases the amount owed over the years, the debt reached the current amount. This situation led to, After a visit to Italy in June 2006, the police confiscated two watches valued at 10,000 euros as part of the payment of the debt.

Sueed for violence

In January 2006, while on vacation in Polynesia, he smashed a glass on a woman's head after she got into an altercation with her daughter Gianinna, causing her to receive eight stitches, but this incident was settled out of court. The former soccer player paid her $6,000 and she withdrew her lawsuit.

He was accused of minor injuries in the Fuero Contravencional y de Faltas of the City of Buenos Aires, for harming a couple by ramming a telephone booth with his truck. The car accident occurred on February 10, 2006, and according to the testimony of some witnesses, Maradona left the place without handing over his information or those of his truck, something that the Buenos Aires Contravention Code requires. However, the former player declared to the media that he was never in the place of the accident, something confirmed by other witnesses. After not appearing in court to testify after five summonses, Judge Gonzalo Rúa declared him "in absentia" and issued an arrest warrant against him. Maradona was out of the country at the time, but when he arrived at the Ezeiza International Airport from Italy on October 7, 2007, he was delayed and taken by force to the Contraventional Court No. 9, located in the Palermo neighborhood of the City of Buenos Aires.

Sue against your agent

After ending his contractual relationship with his representative, Guillermo Cóppola, in 2003, a trial began in which the player demanded payment of 2 million dollars for the money won, among other matters, in his tribute match. After the failure of several conciliatory hearings, in one produced in April 2008, the footballer decided to withdraw the lawsuit.

Lawsuit against Claudia Villafañe

In 2015, he sued his ex-wife Claudia Villafañe; for alleged fraud, fraud and embezzlement of assets. Due to the popularity of the Maradona Case against Villafañe and the development of her investigations in other countries, various Argentine and foreign media cover the issue.

Death

For years Maradona battled addiction to drugs, medications and alcohol, which ended up significantly marking most moments in his life after retiring from soccer. In recent years, Maradona had managed to control his addiction to strong drugs, although he was still addicted to drugs and alcohol, this in turn began to affect his health. In 2019 he had to undergo an operation to control stomach bleeding caused by a gastric bypass placed in 2005.

On November 2, 2020, he was admitted for symptoms of anemia and depression. At the time of his death, he was convalescing after having undergone surgery to correct a subdural hematoma in his head. Finally, Maradona died on the morning of November 25, 2020 at the age of 60, at his residence located in Dique Luján, partido de Tigre, due to cardiac decompensation that generated pulmonary edema.

After his death, President Alberto Fernández declared three days of national mourning. Crowds gathered at the obelisk of Buenos Aires, in the Argentinos Juniors stadium, which has been named after him for years, where a shrine was built on top of it with the things left by fans from all over the world, at the La Bombonera stadium and in Naples, Italy, among other places, to pay tribute to him. His body was transferred to the Casa Rosada during the early hours of November 26, where he was veiled until the afternoon. The ceremony was massive, with the attendance of hundreds of thousands of people. However, Maradona's daughters and ex-wife had decided to finish the ceremony and end the wake at 4:30 p.m., when there was still a very high number of attendees lining up in the streets to enter to say goodbye. From there, incidents were recorded inside and outside the Government House due, among other things, to the presence of barrabravas and indiscriminate police repression. His remains were later transferred to the Jardín de Paz private cemetery, located in Bella Vista, where he was buried next to the graves of his parents. Thousands of followers accompanied the procession or greeted its passage throughout the journey.

The family received condolences from the President of France Emmanuel Macron, from the President of Mexico Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, from the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins, from the former President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from the former President of Bolivia Evo Morales, of the President of Liberia and former soccer player George Weah, and of the soccer players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Pope Francis sent a rosary to his family. On the other hand, Luigi De Magistris, mayor of Naples, announced that the city's stadium would be renamed the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, in his honor.

Participations in the World Cup

As a player

Tournament	Headquarters	Outcome	PJ	G	A
1982 World Cup	SpainSpain	Phase two	5	2	0
World Cup 1986	Mexico Mexico	Champion	7	5	5
World Cup 1990	ItalyItaly	Subfield	7	0	2
World Cup 1994	United States	Final Octavos	2	1	1
Total in World Cups			21	8	8

Participations in the Copa América

Cup	Headquarters	Outcome	PJ	G	A
Copa America 1979	No fixed headquarters	First round	2	1	0
Copa America 1987	Argentina	Fourth	4	3	0
Copa America 1989	BrazilBrazil	Third post	6	0	1
Total			12	4	1

As technical director

Tournament	Headquarters	Outcome	G	E	P	Effectiveness
World Cup 2010	South Africa	Final rooms	4	0	1	80%

Statistics

Clubs

Updated to the last match played on 25 October 1997.

Club	Div.	Season	League			Cups (1)			International (2)			Total (3)			Media Shotgun
			Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.
Argentinos Juniors Argentina	1. a	1976	11	2	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	11	2	3	0.18
		1977	49	19	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	49	19	12	0.39
		1978	35	26	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	35	26	9	0.74
		1979	26	26	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	26	26	6	1
		1980	45	43	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	45	43	10	0.96
	Total club		166	116	40	0	0	0	0	0	0	166	116	40	0.7
Boca Juniors Argentina	1. a	1981	40	28	16	-	-	-	-	-	-	40	28	16	0.7
		1995-96	24	5	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	24	5	6	0.21
		1996-97	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	0	1	0
		1997-98	5	2	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	6	2	0	0.33
	Total club		70	35	23	0	0	0	1	0	0	71	35	23	0.49
F. C. Barcelona SpainSpain	1. a	1982-83	20	11	10	11	7	4	4	5	4	35	23	18	0.66
		1983-84	16	11	4	4	1	1	3	3	1	23	15	6	0.65
	Total club		36	22	14	15	8	5	7	8	5	58	38	24	0.7
S. S. C. Napoli ItalyItaly	1. a	1984-85	30	14	5	6	3	3	-	-	-	36	17	8	0.47
		1985-86	29	11	5	2	2	1	-	-	-	31	13	6	0.42
		1986-87	29	10	3	10	7	4	2	-	-	41	17	7	0.41
		1987-88	28	15	10	9	6	4	2	-	-	39	15	14	0.38
		1988-89	26	9	10	12	7	2	12	3	8	50	19	20	0.38
		1989-90	28	16	13	3	2	-	5	-	1	36	18	14	0.5
		1990-91	18	6	3	4	2	4	4	2	-	26	10	7	0.38
	Total club		188	81	49	46	29	18	25	5	9	259	115	76	0.44
Sevilla F. C. SpainSpain	1. a	1992-93	26	5	9	4	2	4	-	-	-	30	7	13	0.23
	Total club		26	5	9	4	2	4	0	0	0	30	7	13	0.23
Newell’s Old Boys Argentina	1. a	1993-94	5	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	5	0	1	0
	Total club		5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	1	0
Total career			491	259	136	65	39	27	33	13	14	589	311	177	0.53
(1) Includes data from the Spanish League Cup, Copa del Rey, Copa Italia and Supercopa de Italia. (2) Includes European Cup, UEFA Cup and European Champions Cup data. (3) It does not include goals in friendly matches.

Selections

Updated for sporting career.

Selection	Season	Friendly			South America(1)			World(2)			Total			Average score
		Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.
Sub-20 Argentina	1977	2	1	2	3	0	1	-			5	1	3	0.20
	1978	6	5	9	-			-			6	5	9	0.83
	1979	3	1	1	5	1	6	6	6	3	14	8	10	0.57
	Total	11	7	12	8	1	7	6	6	3	25	14	22	0.56
Absolute Argentina	1977	3	0	0	-			-			3	0	0	0.00
	1978	1	0	0	-			-			1	0	0	0.00
	1979	6	2	3	2	1	0	-			8	3	3	0.38
	1980	10	7	6	-			-			10	7	6	0.70
	1981	2	1	0	-			-			2	1	0	0.50
	1982	5	0	2	-			5	2	0	10	2	2	0.20
	1983	-			-			-			0	0	0	0.00
	1984	-			-			-			0	0	0	0.00
	1985	4	3	0	6	3	3	-			10	6	3	0.60
	1986	3	2	0	-			7	5	5	10	7	5	0.70
	1987	2	1	1	4	3	0	-			6	4	1	0.67
	1988	3	1	0	-			-			3	1	0	0.33
	1989	1	0	0	6	0	1	-			7	0	1	0.00
	1990	3	1	2	-			7	0	2	10	1	4	0.10
	1991	-			-			-			0	0	0	0.00
	1992	-			-			-			0	0	0	0.00
	1993	1	0	0	2	0	1	1	0	0	4	0	1	0.00
	1994	5	1	2	-			2	1	1	7	2	3	0.29
	Total	49	19	16	20	7	5	22	8	8	91	34	29	0.37
Total career		60	26	28	28	8	12	28	14	11	116	48	51	0.41
(1) Includes South American Sub-20 (1977-79); South American Cup / South American Classes (1979-93). (2) Includes the Franchi Artemio Cup (1993) matches.

Coach

Updated to the last match on October 30, 2020.

Club	Season	Div.	Statistical data (1)
			Part.	P.G.	P.E.	P.P.	%
Mandiyú	1994	1. a	12	1	6	5	25%
Racing Club	1995	1. a	11	2	6	3	36.36%
Argentinean team	2008-10		24	18	0	6	75%
Al-Wasl	2011-12	1. a	23	11	3	9	52.18%
Al-Fujairah	2017-18	2. a	11	7	3	1	72.73%
Dorados de Sinaloa	2018-19	2. a	38	20	9	9	60.52%
Gimnasia and La Plata	2019-20	1. a	21	8	4	9	44.45%
Total			140	67	31	42	55.24%
(1) Includes data from the Second Division of UAE, Ascenso MX League, First Division of Argentina, Mexico Cup.

Statistical summary

Featured Annotations

Matches in which he scored three or more goals
N.o	Date	Stadium	Party	Goles	Outcome	Competition
1	16 March 1978	Don León Kolbowsky, Buenos Aires	Atlanta - Argentinos Juniors		3 - 5	Metropolitan Championship 1978
2	21 May 1978	Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza	Argentinos Juniors - Little Juniors.		5 - 0	Metropolitan Championship 1978
3	23 June 1979	Architect Ricardo Etcheverri, Avellaneda Avenue	Argentinos Juniors - Hurricane		3 - 2	1979 Metropolitan Championship
4	11 November 1979	Don León Kolbowsky, Buenos Aires	Argentinos Juniors - Columbus.		3 - 0	National Championship 1979
5	21 May 1980	Prater, Vienna	Austria - Argentina		1 - 5	Friendly
6	13 September 1980	Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza	Argentinos Juniors - San Lorenzo		6 - 0	1980 National Championship
7	24 September 1980	Don León Kolbowsky, Buenos Aires	Argentinos Juniors - Union		4 - 1	1980 National Championship
8	9 November 1980	José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires	Argentinos Juniors - Boca Juniors		5 - 3	1980 National Championship
9	8 November 1981	Juan Domingo Perón, Córdoba	Institute - Boca Juniors		1 - 4	National Championship 1981
10	15 September 1982	Camp Nou, Barcelona	Barcelona - Apollon Limassol		8 - 0	Recoup Europe 1982-83
11	17 April 1983	Camp Nou, Barcelona	Barcelona - Las Palmas		7 - 2	First Division of Spain 1982-83
12	14 September 1983	Ernst Grube Stadium, Magdeburg	Magdeburg - Barcelona		1 - 5	Coup Europe 1983-84
13	24 February 1985	San Paolo, Naples	Napoli - Lazio		4 - 0	Series A 1984-85

Records

• Player who was most often a winner of the First Division of Argentina: 5 championships. (Record shared with Domingo Tarasconi).
• Player who was most consecutive in the first division of Argentina: 4 championships. (Record shared with Elysée Brown, Alberto Ohaco and José Sanfilippo).
• Youngest player to turn a goal into the First Division of Argentina: 16 years and 15 days.
• Younger Player to Turn a Double into the First Division of Argentina: 16 years and 15 days.
• Youngest player to turn a triplet into the First Division of Argentina: 17 years, 4 months and 17 days.
• Youngest player in being a winner of the First Division of Argentina: 17 years, 11 months and 29 days.
• Youngest player to turn 100 goals into the First Division of Argentina: 19 years, 10 months and 15 days.
• Youngest player in debuting at the Selection of Argentina: 16 years and 4 months.
• Argentine World Cup winner with the sub-20 and absolute selections. (Record shared with Angel Di Maria and Lionel Messi).
• Maximum historical scorer of Argentinos Juniors in First Division: 116 goals.
• Unique player of Argentinos Juniors to convert more than 100 goals into First Division.
• Napoli Player with more official titles: 5 titles. (Record shared with Ciro Ferrara, Alessandro Renica and Fernando De Napoli).
• Napoli's first player to be Capocannoniere of Serie A.
• Top Napoli historical scorer in the Italian Cup: 29 goals.
• Maximum foreign scorer in the history of the Italian Cup: 29 goals.

Palmarés and individual distinctions

National Championships

Title	Equipment	Country	Year
Metropolitan Championship	Boca Juniors	Argentina	1981
Copa del Rey	F. C. Barcelona	SpainSpain	1982-83
Spanish League Cup			1983
Supercopa de España			1983
Series A	S. S. C. Napoli	ItalyItaly	1986-87
Cup Italy			1986-87
Series A			1989-90
Supercopa de Italia			1990

International Championships

Title	Equipment	Headquarters	Year
Sub-20 World Cup	Argentina Sub-20	Japan	1979
World Cup Soccer	Argentina	Mexico Mexico	1986
UEFA Cup	S. S. C. Napoli	Stuttgart	1988-89
Copa Artemio Franchi	Argentina	Mar del Plata	1993

Individual awards