Fans, players, technical crew and officials at SSSC Napoli of Italy ar celebrating one of their icons, Diego Amando Maradona, following his death on Wednesday at the age of 60, megasportsarena.com reports.
Nigerian striker, Victor Osimhen is one of the current players at Napoli, where Maradona stood like a colossus and his successful days in the team – with which he won two Italian titles, Coppa Italia and the UEFA Cup – were chronicled in a stunning documentary in 2019.
Maradona also played for the Spanish duo of Sevilla and Barcelona, after earlier popping into international limelight wih top clubs Boca Juniors and Newell’s Old Boys in his home country, Argentina, which he captained to World Cup success in 1986 and scored 34 goals in 91 appearances for his national team.
Maradona was loathed by a nation for the ‘Hand of God’ in Mexico City but adored by the world for his moment of genius just four minutes later, but the combustible Argentine was without any doubt one of the greatest football players in history.
Maradona – a fiery, indomitable personality, a man so drastically different in his world view from Brazil’s beloved Pele – was an unstoppable force on his course to reaching the very top of the game but, after winning the World Cup in 1986, his fall from grace was swift, bizarre and, like the man himself, totally unpredictable.
Following the 1986 triumph, Maradona led his country to the final of the 1990 tournament in Italy, although his international playing career ended in shame when he failed a drugs test at the 1994 World Cup in the United States and he was notorious for a wayward lifestyle throughout his life.
He was also banned from football in 1991 after testing positive for cocaine while playing for Napoli, but he remained a revered figure at the Italian club, where the encomiums over his passing are rolling hot and fast, amidst reports that he felt ill on October 30 while coaching first-division team Gimnasia y Esgrima. He had left before the end of the first half, raising questions about his health.
Maradona recently underwent brain surgery at the start of November and his lawyer said he would continue to be treated for alcohol dependency, after which he had an emergency operation for a subdural hematoma, which is an accumulation of blood between a membrane and his brain.
Maradona was initially admitted to another clinic in La Plata with signs of depression, anemia and dehydration, before being moved to Olivos when the subdural hematoma was discovered and Dr Luque said an accident likely caused the subdural hematoma but that Maradona did not recall any falls or mishaps.
A leading analyst, Adam Bate affirmed that Maradona’s time at Napoli was the stuff of legends and Asif Kapadia’s documentary got to the heart of a remarkable tale, and he expatiated: “Diego Maradona found everything at Napoli. He was the genius behind their first Serie A title and won them a European trophy too.
“It was as a Napoli player that he lifted a World Cup and became a cultural icon. It was as a Napoli player that he lost a World Cup and his career as he knew it. Naples brought fame and glory, but it brought drugs and despair too.
“He expected peace. But he had everything but peace. That was apparent from the outset. A crowd of 85,000 packed into the Stadio San Paolo on July 5, 1984. It was a rapturous welcome. The footage depicts a gladiator going into the arena.
“It was mayhem, a journalist thrown out of the frenzied press conference for daring to ask about the dreaded mafia, the Camorra. That was just the start. Kapadia’s film, which was released in cinemas in June 2019, chronicles this fascinating period in the life of one of sport’s most controversial figures.
“He has sifted through more than 500 hours of footage to produce a movie that is utterly immersive. The protagonists have been interviewed but there are no talking heads, their words merely accompany the images. It puts you at the centre of the storm and offers a window into a world of adulation that few have known.”
