Diego Maradona dies: the golden boy with the hand of God

Argentina mourns the loss of soccer star Diego Maradona. He was considered an idol, despite his missteps and excesses. However, his health was in poor health for a long time. He is now dead at the age of 60. An obituary.

By Ivo Marusczyk, ARD-Studio Buenos Aires

Just four minutes was between the worst and best goal of his career. It is June 22, 1986, the quarter-finals of the World Cup between Argentina and England. It is 51 minutes when Diego Maradona jumps towards a failed defensive ball in the English penalty area. With his left hand he pushes the ball into the English goal. The referee neglects the action and gives the 1-0 goal for Argentina. Despite all the protests of the British.

Maradona himself later spoke rather brazenly of the “hand of God” that was involved. It is probably the most controversial goal in World Cup history since Wembley. But only four minutes later, Maradona showed his sporting superiority.

Maradona takes the ball in his own half and with a quick deception of the body he deceived two opponents and ran for 60 meters in the English half. Always keep the ball close to your feet. Dribbles all the English defense with virtuosity, curves around the goalkeeper and scores: 2-0 for Argentina.

Sometimes bad, sometimes hero

“What a genius, I’m almost crying,” admitted journalist Victor Hugo Morales in a now legendary live report. It is this goal that was named the World Cup goal of the century. The rest is football history. After England, the “Albiceleste” defeated Belgium and Germany in the final.

Thieves and heroics were always very close to each other in Maradona. A virtuoso on the ball – but the Argentine has always offended. The Argentines loved him precisely for this cunning, audacity and ingenuity with which he somehow got by over and over. On the lawn as in life.

From Argentina to Europe

Diego Armando Maradona grew up in precarious conditions in a suburb of Buenos Aires. He was first replaced in the first division when he was 15 and quickly became a superstar. In 1982 he moved to Europe but never made it to Barcelona. Maradona found a second home only in Naples.

Thanks to Maradona, the Italian club that blossomed from relegation to champion, in Naples Maradona experienced the same admiration as Argentina. Or even bigger. But even in Naples, light and shadow went together. There were rumors of contacts with the underworld and cocaine parties.

The “golden boy” and drugs

Maradona’s decline begins with the 1990 World Cup at the latest. Overweight, in poor condition – and then a doping test showed he was using drugs. The cocaine caused the “Pibe de oro”, the former “golden boy”, to degenerate into a shadow of himself. It recovered again and again, but it also kept slipping away.

After stops in the Persian Gulf, Belarus and Mexico, Maradona returned to Argentina a year ago. Tears flowed from the fans and from Maradona himself when he sat on the bench for the first time at the “Gimnasia La Plata” club, threatened with relegation. Maradona said at the time that he felt like he was in heaven at the stadium. He just had to spend the last few years in his country.

Three days of national mourning

The star celebrated her birthday on October 30. To celebrate the day, his club was cleared to open the new season after the Corona break. Maradona briefly entered the stadium, but already seemed very weak.

On November 3, he was taken to the hospital and doctors removed a blood clot from his brain. Since then, his doctor had repeated several times that the recovery was going extraordinarily well. But on Wednesday Maradona suffered cardiac arrest at his home near Buenos Aires. Nine rescue teams attempted unsuccessfully to revive him. Argentine President Alberto Fernández has ordered three days of national mourning. Diego Armando Maradona was 60 years old.