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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) – Diego Maradona, the great Argentine footballer who scored the ‘Hand of God’ goal in 1986 and led his country to the World Cup title that year before later battling the cocaine and obesity, died. He was 60 years old.
Maradona spokesman Sebastián Sanchi said he died of a heart attack on Wednesday, two weeks after being released from a Buenos Aires hospital following brain surgery.
The office of the Argentine president has said it will declare three days of national mourning, and the Argentine football association has expressed its sadness on Twitter.
One of the most famous moments in the history of the sport, the ‘Hand of God’ goal came when little Maradona kicked the ball into England’s net in the World Cup quarter-finals. 1986.
Ahead of her 60th birthday in October, Maradona told France Football magazine her dream was to “score another goal against the English, this time with the right hand”.
Maradona has also captivated fans around the world over a two-decade career with a haunting style of play all of her own.
Although his reputation was tarnished by his addictions and an unfortunate fate at the helm of the national team, he remained idolized in football-mad Argentina as “Pibe de Oro” or “Golden Boy”.
“You have taken us to the top of the world,” Argentine President Alfredo Fernández said on social media. “You made us incredibly happy. You were the tallest of all.
The No.10 he wore on his jersey became synonymous with him, as he had also done with Pelé, the great Brazilian with whom Maradona was regularly paired as the best of all time.
The Brazilian said in a statement that he had lost “a dear friend”.
“There is a lot more to say, but for now, may God give strength to his family,” said Pelé. “One day, I hope, we will play football together in the sky.”
Bold, quick and utterly unpredictable, Maradona was a master of attacking, easily juggling the ball from one foot to the other as he ran across the pitch. Dodging and weaving with his low center of gravity, he has shrugged the shoulders of countless rivals and often scored with a devastating left foot, his most powerful weapon.
“Whatever he thought in his head, he did it with his feet,” said Salvatore Bagni, who played with Maradona at Italian club Napoli.
A swollen waistline slowed Maradona’s explosive speed later in his career, and in 1991 he was trapped in his first doping scandal when he admitted to a cocaine habit that haunted him until his death. retired in 1997, at age 37.
Hospitalized to near death in 2000 and again in 2004 for heart problems blamed on cocaine, he later said he had overcome the drug problem. Cocaine, he once said, turned out to be his “toughest rival”.
But other health issues followed, despite having a gastric bypass surgery in 2005 that significantly reduced her weight. Maradona was hospitalized in early 2007 with acute hepatitis which his doctor blamed on excessive alcohol and food consumption.
He made an unlikely return to the national team in 2008 when he was named Argentina’s coach, but after a 2010 World Cup quarterfinal outing in South Africa he was ousted – ultimately clinching a another coaching position with United Arab Emirates club Al Wasl.
Maradona was the fifth of eight children who grew up in a poor and gritty neighborhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires where he played a kind of clay-court football that propelled many Argentines to international stardom.
None of them came close to Maradona’s fame. In 2001, FIFA named Maradona one of the two greatest in the history of sport, alongside Pelé.
“Maradona inspires us,” then Argentina striker Carlos Tevez said, explaining his country’s fascination with Maradona at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. “He is our idol and an idol to the people.”
Maradona won titles at home and abroad, playing in the early 1980s for Argentinos Juniors and Boca Juniors before moving on to Spanish and Italian clubs. His crowning glory came in the 1986 World Cup, captain Argentina in their 3-2 win over West Germany in the final and decisive in a 2-1 win over England in a brave quarter-final match.
During protests from England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, the referee left a Maradona goal in which, as he admitted years later, he intentionally hit the ball with his hand in “a bit of mischief”.
But Maradona’s impact wouldn’t be limited to cheating. Four minutes later, he dramatically faced four midfield opponents to beat Shilton for what FIFA later declared to be the greatest goal in World Cup history.
Many Argentines saw the game as revenge for their country’s loss to Great Britain in the 1982 war against the Falkland Islands, which Argentines still claim as ‘Las Malvinas’.
“It was our way of getting ‘Las Malvinas’ back,” Maradona wrote in her 2000 autobiography “I am Diego”.
“It was more than trying to win a game. We said that the game has nothing to do with war. But we knew that the Argentines had died there, that they had killed them like birds. And that was our revenge. It was something bigger than us: we were defending our flag.
It was also a justification for Maradona, who in what he later called “the greatest tragedy” of his career was excluded from the 1978 World Cup squad – which Argentina won at home. – because he was only 17 years old.
Maradona said he was given a soccer ball shortly after he was able to run.
“I was 3 and slept hugging that ball all night,” he says.
At 10, Maradona rose to prominence by performing at halftime of pro games, wowing crowds by keeping the ball in the air for minutes with her feet, chest and head. He also made his debut with the Argentinos Juniors youth squad, leading a predominantly 14-year-old squad through 136 unbeaten matches.
“Watching him play was pure happiness, a real celebrity,” said teammate Carlos Beltran.
Maradona played from 1976 to 1981 for Premier League club Argentinos Juniors, then went to Boca Juniors for a year before traveling to Barcelona for a world record of $ 8 million.
In 1984, Barcelona sold it to Naples, Italy. He rebuilt his fortune almost on his own, taking him to the 1987 Italian League Championship for his first title in 60 years.
A year after losing the 1990 World Cup final to West Germany, Maradona joined Spanish club Sevilla, but his career was in decline. He played five games at Argentine club Newell’s Old Boys in 1994 before returning to Boca from 1995 to 1997 – his last and closest club to his heart.
Drug problems overshadowed his later years of gambling.
Maradona failed a doping test in 1991 and was banned for 15 months, acknowledging his long-standing cocaine addiction. He failed another doping test for stimulants and was kicked out of the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
Retired, Maradona attended Boca matches as a loud cheering section and participated in charity, sporting and exhibition events around the world. But the already stocky striker quickly gained weight and was clearly out of breath as he blew through the friendlies.
In 2000, in what medics called a pinch to death, he was hospitalized in the Uruguayan resort town of Punta del Este with a heart that medics said was pumping at less than half of its capacity. Blood and urine samples revealed traces of cocaine.
After another emergency hospitalization in 2004, Maradona was counseled for drug addiction and in September of that year traveled to Cuba for treatment at the Havana Mental Health Center. There he received a visit from his friend, Cuban President Fidel Castro.
In Cuba, Maradona started playing golf and smoking cigars. He has often praised Castro and the Argentine revolutionary “Che” Guevara, who fought with Castro in the Cuban Revolution – even sporting a tattoo of Guevara on his right arm.
Maradona said he got rid of the drugs there and started a new chapter.
In 2005, he underwent gastric bypass surgery in Colombia, losing nearly 50 kilograms (over 100 pounds) before appearing as the host of a very popular TV show in Argentina. In “10’s Night,” Maradona walked around a ball with Pelé, interviewed boxer Mike Tyson and Hollywood celebrities, and recorded a lengthy conversation with Castro in Cuba.
In retirement, Maradona also became more outspoken. He has frequently shot former coaches, players – including Pelé – and the Pope. He joined a leftist protest train in front of the Summit of the Americas in 2005, alongside Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to denounce the presence of then President George W. Bush.
His status as an underdog made it all the more surprising when he was chosen as Argentina coach following Alfio Basile’s resignation.
He won his first three matches, but his tactics, selection and attention to detail were all called into question after a 6-1 loss to Bolivia in World Cup qualifying that tied the worst defeat margin in the history of Argentina.
Victor Hugo Morales, Argentina’s most popular football broadcaster, has said that Maradona will ultimately be remembered for an exciting style of play that has never been replicated.
“He was one of the great artists of my time. Like great masters of music and painting, he challenged our intellect and enriched the human spirit, ”said Morales. “Nobody got me more excited and left me as impressed as Diego.
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