He passed today after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Football legend Diego Maradona sadly passed away today at the age of 60, according to reports. His death came as a result of a cardiac arrest suffered at his home in Tigre, Argentina.
His unfortunate passing comes after a series of health problems in recent years. Just weeks ago, he underwent a successful surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain.
Undoubtedly one of the greatest players of all time, the Argentine will be fondly remembered by football fans around the globe as one of the best to ever play the game. His performances throughout his career, but particularly in the 1986 World Cup, will live long in the memory of those who had the pleasure of watching him play.
Maradona started his career in his home country of Argentina. ‘El Pibe de Oro’, as he was affectionately called, played for Argentinos Juniors and Boca Juniors before making his move to Europe.
He moved from Boca Juniors to Barcelona in 1982 for a world record fee – at the time – of £5 million. Who knows what he would have been worth in today’s market. Maradona made his mark at Barcelona over two seasons, despite injury problems. It was his next club, though, where Maradona would establish himself as a legend.
That club was Napoli. He broke his own world record transfer fee as he transferred to Italy for £6.9 million in 1984. Over the course of 7 years, Maradona appeared in 259 matches for the club becoming the club’s leading goalscorer – at the time – with 115 goals. During his time with Napoli, he also won the Serie A twice and picked up a handful of other honours. His shirt number, 10, remains retired by Napoli to this day.
Maradona is perhaps best known for his outstanding performances at the 1986 World Cup. He captained his team to World Cup glory as they defeated West Germany in the final. He also picked up the World Cup Golden Ball, Silver Shoe and collected the most assists in the process.
His performance against England in the World Cup quarter-final is still discussed, to this day, by people from this side of the globe. The Argentine scored two goals as Argentina progressed to the semi-final. One of which was mesmeric, the other being a topic of controversy.
His first, labelled ‘The Hand of God’, was scored after Maradona struck the ball with his hand into the England net. His second goal in that match was inarguably one of the greatest goals ever scored, especially in a game of that magnitude. He dribbled from inside his own half taking on several players on his way to goal before he rounded the keeper and slotted home.
Considered by many as the greatest individual FIFA World Cup goal of all time, Maradona’s goal versus @England at Mexico ’86 is the third to get the @Hyundai_Global Anatomy of a Goal treatment. 🇦🇷🙌 pic.twitter.com/O2uOXBogOg
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) MARCH 9, 2018
His later career was sadly sullied by a number of off the field issues.
However, that is not how he will be remembered by the general public. His footballing ability brought joy to millions, if not billions, of people across the world. He will be a enormous loss to the football community.
