A Living Legend || "Golden Boy" 60th Birthday Of Maradona

Diego Armando Maradona was often closer to death than life. This Friday the former "golden boy" will be 60 years old. About a living legend that keeps rising up.

Did he really say. You can think what you want of Diego Armando Maradona. But he never bit his tongue and he never made a murderous pit out of his heart. So: "Without the drug problems I could have achieved a lot more," he admitted in a 2010 documentary. 

"What kind of a player I would have been if it hadn't been for the cocaine." 

The very own answer of the former "golden boy": 

"My life was not what I wanted. I could be much more than what I am today." 

Maradona said that back in 2010, when he was 50 and had just failed as the Argentine national coach.

Whereby: As such, after his inauguration in 2008, he initially carried away the Albiceleste, simply through his presence. When Maradona speaks or even tries to do so in view of all the traces that decades of overexploitation have left on his body, then they are still on his lips in Argentina.

Against Germany he suffers "the greatest defeat of my career"

But Maradona's presence in the national team had worn out rather quickly. In Extremis he made it to the 2010 World Cup with his "Muchachos". Maradona's reaction to that? Insulting abuse of the journalists. 

At the tournament in South Africa, the rosary prayers' mission ended in tactical disaster and a 0: 4 in the quarter-finals against Germany. 

According to Maradona, it was "the biggest defeat of my career".

This Friday, Diego Armando Maradona, a supposed "god" for many players, will be 60 years old. Even in his sixth decade of life, since 2010 he has achieved what he still managed to do in his, what felt like, umpteen lives: he came back. If only as a kind of coach-ambassador mascot in the United Arab Emirates, well.

At the 2018 World Cup in Russia he made negative headlines as an apparently senseless supporter of Argentina - and immediately after the tournament it was not a shame to drive up to autocratic Belarus in a tank-like vehicle and accept a position as honorary president of Dinamo Brest. After all: you haven't seen him there since then.

In Naples they still dream of him today, sometimes they are nightmares

That's how it is with Maradona: here today and there tomorrow. In Mexico he got the curve again at the end of 2018, got the second division side Dorados de Sinaloa on track as a motivator known as a "coach". 

As I said, it can get carried away, at least initially. For a year now, the eternal stand-up man has been back to work in his home country, at Gimnasia La Plata not far from Buenos Aires. But there too: sometimes the supposed head coach is there, sometimes not. The real work is done by his adjutants. Gimnasia only escaped relegation because there are no relegations due to the corona pandemic.

Either way, Maradona would not be relegated to his fans. For many, not only in Argentina, it is "El Mas Grande": the greatest of all. Before Pele. So be it. 

The fact is: Maradona became world champion in 1986, and also five times top scorer in Argentina, it's still a record. Twice, in 1987 and 1990, he was champion in Italy with Napoli, which was previously a provincial club and still dreams of Maradona today, although sometimes it is also nightmares in view of the commitment that once dissolved in the drug and Camorra confusion. The years together were heaven and hell at the same time, 70,000 fans celebrated at the "Diego" presentation alone; a UEFA Cup victory against VfB Stuttgart in 1989 was also possible, but there were also years of excesses on and off the field.

In Argentina they pray the father Diego - that he has Messi ahead

But above all, Maradona is a living legend, already an icon, as a former miracle footballer he is practically immortal. Even a church is named after him. His disciples pray that Father Diego. Its importance at home goes far beyond football, as a reflection of the former, also economic world leaders in the country. He's ahead of Lionel Messi. "Maradona will always be the greatest in Argentina. He's a highlander who never dies," said ex-Stuttgart José Basualdo.

Maradona grew up in the sixties in the poor district of Villa Fiorito on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Even as a boy, he made it onto television thanks to his special pieces. Ten days before his 16th birthday in 1976, he made his debut in Argentina's premier league for his home club Argentinos Juniors. At 16 he became a national player, at 17 top scorer, at 18 U-20 world champion under his mentor Cesar Luis Menotti.

He came back for the first time - after the disappointment that this national coach Menotti, who is also responsible for the senior national team, had not nominated him for the "real" World Cup, the 1978 in Argentina. Argentina won its first world title without the golden boy. Meanwhile, Maradona does magic for Argentinos Juniors.

Lattek makes life difficult for him, he invents the "hand of God" himself

In 1981 he became a hero for all time at Boca Juniors, followed by the legendary move from Boca to Barça in 1982. But he won't be happy in Barcelona, coach Udo Lattek makes life difficult for him . 1983 Bilbao defender Andoni Goikoetxea kills him, it looks terrible, but three months later Maradona plays again. A stand-up man. This is his life. Often on the ground - and yet not (completely) broken. He keeps getting up. And dance everyone out, at least on the square.

1986 the highlight: first the two goals against England in the quarter-finals, first the one with the "hand of God" - Maradona himself invented the term - then his solo of the century follows. In the semifinals he scores twice to win against Belgium, in the final against Germany his dream pass prepares Jorge Burruchaga's 3-2.

In 1994 he was excluded from the World Cup in the USA because of the use of prohibited substances. 

"They cut off my legs," 

Maradona's most legendary sentence becomes. From then on, his supposedly lifelong fight against FIFA begins - already a thing of the past. Most recently he was able to return to the world association. It is not uncommon for the former miracle dribbler to dribble himself out.

1997 the end of his career, as it should be for an Argentine after a Superclasico between Boca and River. In his farewell game, his other sentence, which will outlast him: "The ball won't get dirty." In tears and in the jam-packed bombonera, it is an admission of all wrongdoings. Almost like a prayer, he has put his hands on his chest.

At the turn of the millennium, Maradona almost physically said goodbye: overdose, heart problems, Maradona barely escapes death. He then fled to Cuba to meet his friend Fidel Castro, he stayed there for years, had his hair dyed, but was soon posing again with a thick cigar. 2004 another life-threatening situation, Maradona gets up again, and how.

In 2005, the ex-player showed himself to be a presenter in a TV show that was put on especially for him: charming and slim and slim. He almost looks better than ever after a stomach reduction. The "Noche del 10", the night of the 10, is a hit, Pelé is a studio guest right from the first show. No argument about who is the bigger one. You joke, dance and do magic together. Oh, it could only always be like that. Hasta siempre, Diego.