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Maradona back in hospital
Wednesday 5 May, 2004

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Reports suggest that Napoli legend Diego Armando Maradona has returned to a
Buenos Aires hospital.

The Argentine discharged himself from the clinic last week after spending 12
days in intensive care.

The 43-year-old was rushed to hospital after falling ill with heart and lung
problems on April 18.

Now Argentine media reports allege that the 1986 World Cup winner is back in
hospital after further problems.

The Suizo-Argentina clinic would not confirm that Maradona, widely regarded as
one of the greatest players in the history of the game, had been admitted
overnight.

Speculation on Monday suggested that Maradona was preparing to return to Cuba to
resume treatment.


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Golden Great: Diego Maradona
February 2000 Issue

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People’s champion

How often have you heard folk talking of the greatest ever player? Many times no
doubt. I have been fortunate enough to have watched several of these outstanding
players including George Best, Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Michael Platini,
Eric Cantona, Kenny Dalglish and Liam Brady. But without doubt there is only one
that I can honestly say was out of this world - Diego Armando Maradona.

No article about Napoli, Argentina or world soccer could be written without
mentioning his name. He’s done it, seen it, sniffed it, worn the T-shirt, made
the video, recorded the song, retired and made so many comebacks that even Elvis
Presley’s manager would be proud of the publicity.

What Diego meant to football in Naples is something almost too complex to
explain. He was the symbol of the 80s. Without ever seeing him, or knowing a
Neapolitan at that time, it is impossible to conceive what he meant for the
inhabitants of that sprawling, almost third world city.

He was loved immediately on his arrival. He was every mother’s son, everyone’s
brother, every girl’s boyfriend. He was the man who would show the rest of the
world that Napoli could and would teach everyone else how to play football.
Apart from his calcio skills, his social importance was of enormous benefit to
people’s self esteem and he soon became the idol of the people.

Naples is not a rich city and the slums, where he was put on the same pedestal
as the Virgin Mary, were atrociously poor. However Diego, unlike so many of the
greats, helped people forget their problems. He alleviated the pain and misery
that walked hand in hand down the flapping, washing line-strewn back streets. He
was the people’s champion. He was seen as a ‘liberator’ for many, somebody who
could give them an aim in life.

Neapolitans are famous for their spontaneity, for their happy-go-lucky approach.
They have to be, otherwise they would die of hopelessness. Once you are aware of
this passion that beats inside them then you can appreciate how and why the
citizens went bananas over him. He was a hero for everybody.

To think it all started in a run down slum in Lanus, a small city in the
province of Buenos Aires. Born on October 30, 1960, he was given his first
football as a three-year-old by his uncle Cirilo. At eight he was the star of
Estrella Roja Red Star, where a scout for Argentina Juniors, Francisco Cornejo
claimed: "He came from another planet. From the start he seemed able to do
whatever he wanted to do with the ball. He dribbled better than the others and
he showed such sharp control when stopped or turning. He could also hold the
ball on his head or his left foot for ages."

A year later Diego and his pals started their own team, the Little Onions. They
were so good Argentina Juniors signed the whole team up en bloc as one of the
club’s junior sides. Ten days before his sixteenth birthday in 1976 he made his
first team debut for Argentina Juniors as a sub. The following week he made his
full debut against Newell’s Old Boys. In February 1977, he made his full
international debut against Hungary in a friendly.

Then two years later in 1979 he was captain of the Argentina Youth team that won
their version of the World Cup. A year later saw the first of many records
broken when was sold for £1m to Boca Juniors. In 1982 Barcelona came in with
another record fee of £5m and took him to Spain. At that time Spanish football
was particularly brutal and he came in for some of the barbarous treatment that
saw him unable to play without pain killing injections later in his career. One
particularly notorious assault by Andoni Goicochea saw the world’s most
expensive player sidelined for four months.

So when Napoli came in with a £5m offer in 1984 he jumped at the chance to get
away from Spain. In Naples, a team that had won nothing for all their devoted
support, he was welcomed like a returning king. It was the third time he had
broke the world transfer fee and in his first season he played 30 matches. His
14 goals led Napoli to eighth position as Verona won the title.

In 1986 he led his country to a World Cup final. Argentina, inspired by Diego,
beat Germany 3-2 and he was voted player of the tournament. A year later he
inspired Napoli that elusive first Scudetto, a title no club from the south had
ever won. And they completed a superb double by lifting the Coppa Italia. By now
he was God in Naples and could do no wrong.

The following season the club came second, three points behind Milan after a
disastrous run when they lost a five-point lead. In 1989 they came second again,
this time to Inter. But they did win the UEFA Cup.

However, the following season the club won their second title. It was a real
feat considering that previously the title appeared to belong to a cartel of
northern clubs. Diego and Napoli symbolised the poor forgotten south against the
wicked oppressive north. David had beaten Goliath for the second time.

It is impossible to describe how much Diego and those title wins meant to
Neapolitans, football fans or not. Perhaps a few figures can give some idea of
how much football and Diego meant to the city. In his first season some 67,000
season tickets were sold. In 1985-86 the club had more than 70,000 season ticket
holders. Wedding rings, cars and family heirlooms were sold off to buy tickets.
Over 15,000 fans hit the road to Turin for a title showdown with Juventus that
year.

His undisputed popularity was of course based on his footballing skills. But his
fame could not have been possible were there not parallels between his
outrageous style and that of the city’s. He was skilful, a joker, cunning, a
lover of the dramatic and was forever in the company of friends and family.

Banners in the legendary Curva B displayed such metaphors as: ‘Napoli raise your
eyes and look at the sky, it’s the only thing greater than you.’ ‘The immensity
of the sky is not enough to express our love for you.’ ‘The Blues, you’re
Beethoven’s tenth.’ ‘After God, Diego and Napoli, Long live the south.’ My
personal favourite was a banner displaying all the playful contrivance of the
irony of the club and the city’s position in the grand order of things in Italy:
‘Children of the sun snatch the Championship from the children of the cold.’

As an outsider used to the thinly disguised self-congratulatory slogans of
English stadiums, these self-mocking slogans were all the more original.
Responding to the outright racism of the northern fans and the typical banners
of theirs that said things like ‘Welcome to Italy Neapolitans,’ the Napoli
ultras replied: ‘Milan, Turin, Bergamo…is this Italy? It’s better being
Africans.’

All this joy was down to one man, Maradona and no matter what the media would
have you believe Diego made a lot of people very happy. He was great player,
incomparable. "Pele was the supreme player of his era; Maradona is the
pre-eminent player of his time. You cannot compare them. Such greatness does not
submit to comparison.," said Cesar Luis Menotti, former manager of Argentina.

However, it all started to go wrong. But not before Maradona led Argentina back
to the 1990 World Cup final only to be beaten by a cynical Germany 1-0. In 1991
he failed an Italian FA dope test and was banned for 15 months after the test
proved positive. Diego and his fans claimed it was a plot and a revenge for the
goal that knocked Italy out of the 1990 World Cup. Although at the time it
seemed paranoia, with the serious problems today surrounding the very same lab
where the test were made after Zdenek Zeman’s accusations, maybe Diego had
something after all.

He left his beloved Napoli after falling out with the management and in 1992
attempted a comeback in Spain with Seville but the following year he was given
the sack by the club. He moved back to Argentina and tried again with Newell’s
Old Boys and was restored as captain in the World Cup play-off games with
Australia.

Argentina squeezed through but in the 1994 finals he was sadly found positive
after another drugs test after the second game in the finals. He was
subsequently banned again but still refused to accept his fate and defied the
world again with his snarling grin into the cameras after scoring his last ever
World Cup goal.

In October 1995 Oxford University gave him an honorary Master’s degree with the
title Master Inspirer of Dreams. And that is probably the best place to leave
Diego, a man more than any footballer before him, who really represented the
people who he played for.

Diego, just pure magic

I was lucky enough to watch Diego for two whole seasons in Naples. With my
father-in-law being a Neapolitan, it wasn’t too hard to get tickets even when
they were sold out! For one game in 1987-88, against Fiorentina, I was sat level
with the halfway line opposite the main stand.

Halfway through the game goalkeeper Galli flung the ball out to Diego. He was 15
feet away from me when he started his run. With a momentary glance over his
shoulder, he allowed the ball to fall on the Achilles heel of his right foot. He
then flicked the ball up his back and over his head as a poor deluded Fiorentina
defender came steaming in.

Catching it again on his left thigh, he pushed the ball up over the head of the
defender, side-stepped him, caught the ball on its way back down. Before it
could touch the ground, he volleyed it to one of his teammates running up
through the middle. Breathless and breathtaking, it all happened in one movement
lasting perhaps two or three seconds. He then ran forward to reach the penalty
area, received the ball back and unleashed a powerful, unstoppable exocet into
the top corner. Pure magic.

A brilliant performer who single-handedly turned sleeping giants Napoli into a
world force and raised the spirits of their down-trodden fans. Although now
sadly in the headlines more for his off-field activities, his sheer footballing
genius will never be forgotten.

Diego Armando Maradona
Born: Lanus (Argentina), 30/10/60
Ht/Wt: 5.5 ft 12st 5lbs
Position: Striker/midfielder
Clubs: Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Seville, Newell’s
Old Boys, Boca Juniors
International record: 90 games 33 goals