Remembering the flawed genius of Diego Maradona

He received the ball just inside his own half, span on a sixpence and set off for the distant England goal. Picking his head up, he began to drive at an increasingly nervous looking defence. Ball seemingly glued to his feet, he left four England players trailing in his wake, before easing past goalkeeper Peter Shilton and slotting the ball into an empty net. This was Diego Maradona. This was the 1986 World Cup. This was his moment.

Maradona was pronounced dead today after a heart attack. Just three weeks ago he had surgery to remove a blood clot. He had turned 60, on October 30. The life of a man whose extraordinary story had captured the imagination of millions was brought to a sudden and sad end.

It is best to remember Maradona for his stunning feats on the pitch rather than the decline that followed his retirement from the game he loved.

Diego Armando Maradona was born on Sunday, October 30, 1960 in the south of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. He was the fifth child of his parents, Diego Maradona Snr and Dalma Salvadora Frano, but their first son. 

The coach who discovered him was Francisco Cornejo. “When Diego came to Argentinos Juniors for trials, I was really struck by his talent and couldn’t believe he was only eight-years-old,” he said. They even asked to see an ID card to prove his age. “When we discovered he was telling the truth, we decided to devote ourselves purely to him,” Cornejo said. 

His record for Argentinos Juniors was sensational; making his debut 10 days before his 16^th birthday, he went on to score 116 goals in 167 appearances. While at Juniors the club received a bid from Sheffield United which was close to being accepted. How different would football history have been if this deal had made it over the line?

In a world before globalisation and far-reaching media Europe had to wait until the 1982 World Cup to see what Argentina’s little prodigy had in store. Nine days before the festival of football began in Spain, Barcelona signed Maradona from Boca Juniors for a then world record £5 million.

Unfortunately, for the Blaugrana the marriage with their star player never blossomed into what it could have been. But, around 20 years after Maradona packed his bags and left the Camp Nou, another mercurial Argentinian made his debut for the club. Lionel Messi has gone to feats that rival, and perhaps surpass, even Maradona. “If anyone inspired me it was undoubtedly Maradona,” Messi said. 

Diego left Barcelona with a bang. As the 1984 Copa Del Rey Final against Athletic Bilbao drew to a close Barca were losing 1-0, and after being injured in a tackle Maradona saw red, headbutting Bilbao’s Miguel Sola, elbowing one player and kneeing another in the face, knocking him out. Unsurprisingly, this was the end of Maradona’s time in the Catalan capital and he moved to Napoli for another world record fee of £6.9 million.

Diego Maradona the film was released in June, 2019. It starts with a long uninterrupted sequence of a car driving through the streets of Naples. This was Maradona travelling to the San Paulo stadium for his unveiling. It’s not glamorous, it’s chaotic, but it truly captures the mass hysteria that Maradona’s arrival had brought to one of Italy’s poorest cities. 

The people of Naples embraced their Argentinian import as one of their own, and he paid them back with his performances on the pitch. No team from Italy’s southern peninsula had ever won the league title before Maradona’s arrival. Led by their talisman, Napoli won their first championship in 1987. 

The sportswriter David Goldbatt described the scene in Naples: “The celebrations were tumultuous … The world was turned upside down. The Neapolitans held mock funerals for Juventus and Milan, burning their coffins.” Napoli finished runners-up for the next two seasons, before clinching the title again in 1990. In his 188 games for Napoli, he scored 81 goals, but his impact went far beyond the stats. He helped change the mentality of a down-trodden city and its people while shifting the balance of power in Italian football.  French World Cup winner Marcel Desailly said: “He decided matches alone, carrying average teams like Napoli, and Argentina in 1986 to glorious achievements. A genius.” 

His time in Italy came to a depressing end as the lifestyle of being the superstar Maradona spun out of control, with increasing drug use. In truth, he never really got it under control again.

Perhaps Maradona’s greatest feats came with the national side. An Argentinian patriot, playing for his country regularly brought the best out of him. He made 91 appearances for his country, scoring 34 goals. He arrived in Mexico for the 1986 World Cup as captain of his national side and at the peak of his powers. He played every minute of every game, dragging his team to the final where they beat West Germany. The quarter-final against England will always be synonymous with Maradona. He scored twice; both are cemented in World Cup folklore. 

The first will be remembered as one of the most controversial moments in World Cup history. He picked the ball up about 35 yards out and started on a trademark zig-zagging run. He played the ball to teammate Jorge Valdano, who lost it to England’s Steve Hodge. Hodge’s botched clearance spiralled towards the England goal. Maradona sprinted after the ball and just before keeper Shilton grabbed it the Argentinian stuck out his fist and punched the ball into the net. Maradona wheeled away in celebration, and shockingly the referee and linesman were the only people in the Azteca stadium that hadn’t seen the offence. Maradona later claimed it was, “The hand of God.”

I have described the breathtaking beauty of his second goal at the start of this piece, but I will add that in an online poll conducted by FIFA in 2002 it was voted the goal of the century. The next day French newspaper L’Equipe described Maradona as, “half-angel, half-devil”. Nothing sums up the flawed genius of Maradona better. 

He almost repeated the feat of 1986 four years later in Italy where he guided his country to the World Cup final for a second time. By this time his powers were beginning to wain and an ankle injury stopped him from exerting his dominance over the tournament again. 

The 1994 World Cup in the USA saw Maradona crash out of football after failing a drugs test. He scored against Greece and ran towards the camera with eyes apparently ready to pop out of their sockets and a horribly distorted face. Something clearly wasn’t right, and after the game he tested positive for ephedrine. 

“Half-Angel, Half-Devil,” seems the perfect way to describe Maradona. His feats on the pitch were truly remarkable and, in some people’s, eyes may never be beaten, but his chaotic life off the pitch became infamous. Drug use appeared fairly regularly. So, what’s the best way to remember a footballing icon like Maradona? Go on YouTube, type in “Maradona goal of the century v England”, sit back and enjoy.

By Alex Brinton