The Times - UK (2020-11-26)

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pistol. In truth, he did not need stimu-

lants to be capable of such actions. In

1981 a 16-year-old autograph hunter

who asked Maradona how much

money he expected to make from a

forthcoming Mini World Cup got

punched in the face. The enraged

Maradona had to be restrained by a

small crowd.

In September 1995 he returned to the

footballing scene, playing for Boca Jun-

iors against South Korea in front of a

70,000 Seoul crowd. He had not lost his

touch, timing nor sense of flow, though

he had slowed considerably. He had

now begun to assume a rather portly

appearance, taking measures in 1995

when a plastic surgeon removed his

double chin. A year later he employed

Ben Johnson, a contemporary athlete

who had also fallen foul of the doping

Obituaries

Diego Maradona

Gifted yet troubled footballer who led his country to World Cup victory

Diego Maradona’s life was not so much
in the tradition of a once-great footbal-
ler who goes to seed; rather, it resem-
bled that of a fallen movie idol, or rock
star. Like Elvis, his rare gifts were ru-
ined by self-indulgence.
Whereas drink is the customary
Achilles’ heel in football, Maradona’s
downfall was caused by a combined ad-
diction to drugs, drink, eating and sex.
Most notably, his chronic cocaine prob-
lem accentuated his erratic, violent and
often bizarre behaviour.
He was an easily-led, self-obsessed
and melodramatic figure. Yet towering
above all his self-destructive antics lay
a footballing legend. As a dribbler on
the field, he was the finest, even surpas-
sing Pelé. His greatest triumph came in
the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico
where he was at his imperious best.
Short, muscular and lightning quick,
Maradona slalomed through opposi-
tion defences, hurdling challenges and
brushing off crude attempts to stop
him. He was instrumental in Argenti-
na’s victory in the competition, scoring
all four of the team’s goals — two of
them breathtaking — against England
and Belgium on the way to their 3-2
defeat of West Germany in the final.
Mexico ’86 was Maradona’s apotheosis,
and it was England’s nemesis.
Five minutes into the second half of
the England-Argentina clash, with the
game at 0-0, there was a scramble by
the England goalmouth. Steve Hodge,
the midfielder, hooked the ball over his
head to pass it to Peter Shilton, the goal-
keeper. Maradona rose to intercept,
clenching his raised fist close to his
head, and punched the ball over the
outstretched arm of Shilton, flicking his
head as he did so to hide his actions.
Despite protests of the England
players, both linesman and referee fail-
ed to spot the infringement. Yet even
the most resentful England fans had to
admire Maradona’s second goal in that
game. He picked up the ball in his own
half, wrong-stepped two England
players, then sent Terry Butcher in the
wrong direction; Terry Fenwick
shirked, and as Maradona neared the
goal he again escaped the advances of
Butcher. Maradona then moved the
ball from right foot to left before putting
it past Shilton. “You have to say that’s
magnificent,” conceded the BBC’s com-
mentator, Barry Davies.
He scored an almost equally brilliant
solo effort against Belgium in the
following game, yet his handled goal
against England became an enduring
image. After the game he explained it
was the “Hand of God”. To the English
such deviousness and cheek merely
added insult to injury. Others injected
the feat with greater meaning: Brian
Glanville called it “Corinthian”, while a
book written by a committee of Neapol-
itan lawyers, doctors and anthropolo-
gists later declared: “His goal scored
with the hand, the famous hand of God,
reminds one of Ulysses for its deception
and cunning.”
That such a supreme talent could be
so undisciplined, that he felt he needed
to cheat, to go one step further, was per-
haps a pointer to the unhappy times
ahead.
Diego Armando Maradona was born
in 1960 and raised in the back streets of

Argentina’s 1986 World Cup triumph in Mexico City proved to be the pinnacle of

had been involved with had already dis-

closed to the Italian press his drug, and

indeed his sex, habits (he was also a self-

confessed devotee of pornographic

films). After a transfer to Seville he was

sacked again after brawling in a cup

final, and returned to Argentina,

where he was arrested for cocaine

possession.

He served a 15-month ban after

failing the drug test in the US.

Again he claimed a conspiracy, be-

moaning: “They’ve cut my legs off.

I killed myself training and now

they do this to me.”

His cocaine habit was by now

having an evident effect on his be-

haviour. Reporters crowding out-

side his gates to ask him about his

ban were met with the sound of shots,

as Maradona set upon them with an air

Wearing the Cebollitas strip at the

Torneos Evita in Argentina in 1973

scrum ensued, and Maradona was

given a three-month ban.

In 1984 he was signed by Napoli,

again for a world record of £6.9 million.

Here he flourished, enjoying his great-

est success at club level. He led the Ital-

ian side to a cup victory in 1987, their

first Serie A championship the same

year, and a Uefa cup triumph over

Stuttgart in 1989.

The 1990 World Cup in Italy was a dis-

appointment to Argentina and Marado-

na. The maestro was clearly past his

peak of four years’ earlier but still served

up flashes of brilliance that enabled Ar-

gentina to make the final, where they

lost 1-0 to West Germany in a dismal

fashion. He took the defeat in an undig-

nified manner, a dishevelled loser seen

bawling his eyes out after the final whis-

tle. Mexico ’86 would remain his sole

World Cup success: he had been left out

of the Argentina squad altogether in

1978 and in 1982 his and Argentina’s

tournament ended in the second round

when he was sent off against Brazil,

having retaliated against much rough

treatment.

The finals in the US in 1994 proved

his last undoing. His wild-eyed goal cel-

ebrations after putting one past Greece

appeared, to many, over-exuberant

even by Maradona’s theatrical stan-

dards. He was finally ejected from the

tournament after Argentina’s 2-1 vic-

tory against Nigeria, having been found

taking two banned substances, includ-

ing ephedrine.

He had been taking cortisone for

some time to combat a back-injury; he

also had three pins in his ankle. For 15

years unscrupulous managers made

sure that he received painkilling injec-

tions before every game.

In some ways Maradona was here the

victim. Nevertheless, his involvement

with drugs of the recreational rather

than the performance-enhancing kind

was well known by 1994. Many were

surprised he was playing in America at

all. His club-level career was effective-

ly finished in 1991 when Napoli

expelled him after he was

named in a drug smuggling

ring involving the Neapoli-

tan mafia. He claimed he

had been framed,

though prosti-

tutes he

Villa Fiorito, the fifth of eight children of

a family of Italian and indigenous de-

scent. His father, also called Diego but

known as “Chitoro”, was a low-paid fact-

ory worker while his mother, Dalma

(née Franco), worked as a domestic. The

young Maradona grew up in poverty.

With little money to pay for entertain-

ments, he spent most of his childhood

playing football in the streets (inspired,

he recalled, by George Best) and when

not doing this, practising by himself

with a tennis ball.

The club Argentinos Juniors spotted

and signed him at the age of 12, and he

made his debut in the Argentine

league three years later. By 16 he

had represented his country,

making his debut as a substitute

in a friendly against Hungary

in February 1977. In 1981 Boca

Juniors signed him for £1 mil-

lion — then a record for a teen-

ager — and a year later Barcelo-

na bought him for another

world record of £5 million.

His young talents failed

to materialise at the Cata-

lonian club (indeed, Ter-

ry Venables managed to

win the league with Bar-

celona the year after he

departed). Most notori-

ously, he dis-

graced

himself in

full view of

King Juan

Carlos and

100,000 spec-

tators in 1984

after Bilbao’s defeat of Barcelona by a

goal to nil. Maradona butted and laid

out the Bilbao defender José Núñez,

then hammered Miguel Sola to the

ground after he had taunted the Argen-

tinian with a crude gesture. A full

In Argentina his ‘Hand

of God’ was seen proudly

as an act of cunning