Diego Armando Maradona is a football legend, whose name we have all heard at least once, who even scored with his hand and won the world cup for Argentina and achieved countless successes.
Maradona has always had a shaky football life. He failed many doping tests and was penalized, but scored legendary goals and received awards. Besides football, he has even been involved in politics and music. Let’s get to know Diego Armando Maradona first.
Who is the Argentine legend Maradona?
Diego Armando Maradona was born in 1960 in Buenos Aires. The innate nature of Maradona’s talent seems to have influenced football explorers when he was just 9 years old. Armando, who started his football career in the neighborhood team Estrella Roja, came to the fore many times in his later years, both with his football and his style.
Maradona, who started his professional career at the age of 16, played for Boca Juniors and after one year, the catalan giant Barcelona opened his mouth and signed a contract with Maradona. Maradona, who later played in teams such as Napoli and Sevilla, passed away on November 25, 2020, at the age of 60, due to a heart disease.
Information about Maradona:
- “Hand of God” and “Goal of the Century”
- doping incidents
- singing career
- drug addiction
- Arrested many times
- Maradona and fouls
- He was the technical director
- innate talent
- Maradona and the italian mafia
- not just a football player
“Hand of God” and “Goal of the Century”
Hand of God
We can say that this goal is the goal that made Maradona Maradona. In the semi-final match against England, very hard football was played against Maradona, we can even say that Maradona was knocked down in 9 out of 10 positions. In this match, which was goalless until the second half, in the 5th minute of the 2nd half, he scored a goal that was very difficult for the referee to see, giving the Argentina national team a 1-0 lead. When asked about this goal, he said, “That hand was the hand of God,” and gave his goal an iconic name.
Goal of the Century
Just 4 minutes later, he scored an even more incredible goal, starting from the midfield and stealing everyone, including the goalkeeper, and determined the fate of the match. This goal went down in history as the “Goal of the Century”.
In fact, we can say that Maradona scored two of the most important goals in history in a single match in the same match. This is a good example of why he is among the best.
doping incidents
We said that Maradona didn’t have a very clean career. Maradona, who took several doping tests throughout his career, failed some of them. This of course negatively affected Maradona’s career.
Armando, who was found to have used cocaine in the doping test he entered in 1991, is banned from football for one year and of course, this situation greatly affects both his fans and his football life.
singing career
Besides football, Maradona loves to sing. It is known that he sang both songs and anthems written for him in public. However, one day he decides to buy a guitar and write songs and tries to be successful in this field. Is it OK? If you ask him, no, he didn’t, except for his duets with famous Argentine singers.
Due to her drug use and low critical acclaim, she never managed to gain enough fan base as a singer and continued what she does best.
drug addiction
We can say that Maradona’s drug addiction actually marked the end of his football career. We said that Maradona was banned from football in 1991 due to drugs. In fact, the end of his career began at this point.
In addition to being crushed under intense criticism and addiction, it can be said that there was a Maradona who was constantly going backwards by experiencing low performance in football in those years.
Arrested many times
Maradona actually had a problem with the law throughout his life. These accusations faced many charges; Drug use and trafficking are known as harassment, violence and tax evasion.
In addition, his family life was also on the agenda with many scandals. Extramarital affairs, violence, alcoholism and personal problems, in short, we can say that Maradona was as good in his private life as he was in his football life.
Maradona and fouls
Maradona suffered from injuries and fouls throughout his playing career. Due to his small size and speed, he could not be stopped without a foul. We can say that he has scored a total of 152 fouls in the 4 World Cups he has won, an impossible record to be broken.
He was the technical director
Maradona is making the transition to manager after his playing career. After singing, it can be said that he was not as successful in his coaching life as he was in his football career.
After being the head of the Argentina national team, he manages to carry Argentina to the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup, but they are eliminated from the cup after suffering a 4-0 defeat against Germany. In addition, Armando coached many Argentine league teams, but of course he was unsuccessful.
innate talent
It would not be a lie to say that Maradona was actually born with football. He entered his first team at the age of 9, being discovered not through someone but through his own talent. 10 days before the age of 16, he was transferred to Boca Juniors for £ 1 million, making him one of the youngest professional footballers of his time.
Maradona and the Italian mafia
He was such a great football player during the Maradona era that it is known that he was protected by the Italian mafia so that nothing would happen to him as long as he played in Napoli. Although Maradona denied these allegations, it turned out that his manager at that time was arrested because of his involvement with the Italian mafia.
not just a football player
Besides his playing career, Maradona is known as a major human rights activist. It is known that Maradona frequently criticizes the social inequality and injustices in Argentina and offers many solutions to the government.
Maradona’s stance on human rights has shown him not only as a football player, but also as an opinion leader and folk hero.
Although he has a life that we can call bad, it is true that Maradona is a great football player. In addition to his football career, we can say that he is an iconic model, we can say that Maradona encouraged many children to play football as an idol, and it is a fact that the children of the 80s called themselves Maradona on the street, not Ronaldo or Messi.