Diego Maradona: Argentine’s genius was innate in his veins

1986 WC defined him, but his career was a glorious fusion of extreme contrasts

Argentinian star Diego Maradona raises his arm in the air after scoring his game winning goal against England in their World Cup semi final in Mexico, June 22, 1986.

A goal scored in football is the highest form of sporting high. The crowd is on its feet, the striker is in his slice of heaven, team-mates are delirious and soul-numbing grief is the shroud that chokes the rivals.

Football - the calisthenics between fast legs and a ball, the art that fuses the dodge and the sprint while a sphere beats the goalkeeper - lost its heart-beat when news broke that Diego Maradona passed away at 60 , back home in Argentina.

Yes, there is Pele with his description of football as the beautiful game. And in that pantheon of excellence with the Brazilian legend saying the right things, Maradona, the Argentinian wizard, the Boca Juniors maestro, the hero for Napoli, walks in with a saunter, curly hair, stocky build, magic in his feet and never the politically correct word emanating from his lips.

This was genius with shades of the devil, and strangely in 1986, Maradona was one with the gods. This was the fusion of extreme contrasts.

Great athletes impose their will on the game and Maradona was right up there.

It’s one of sports’ most celebrated rags-to-riches stories. Born on October 1960, Diego Maradona grew up in the shanty town of Villa Fiorito in Buenos Aires. He was the fifth of eight children of a factory worker. For young Diego, football seemed the best route to escape a life of poverty. This is an undated photo of Diego Maradona (centre) relaxing with his family on a beach.

As a teenager, Maradona helped Argentina to victory in the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championships in Japan. Maradona narrowly missed the making the World Cup squad a year earlier.

Maradona made his World Cup debut in 1982 in Spain but it wasn’t the most memorable tournament for him. Against Brazil, he was sent off.

Maradona represented Barcelona and Napoli as well. His stint with Barcelona suffered due to injuries, but when he arrived in Italy in 1984, he enjoyed greater success. He helped Napoli to the Italian title twice.

In what is still regarded as one of the greatest goals of all time, against England in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Maradona dribbled past nearly half the England team before slotting the ball into the net. It was later voted the “Goal of the Century” by a FIFA poll.

In the same match against England in 1986, Maradona also had one of international football’s most notorious “goals” against his name. Replays showed the ball striking his hand first before beating goalkeeper Peter Shilton but the goal was awarded to Argentina. It came to be known as the “Hand of God” goal.

Maradona made the 1986 World Cup his own. He captained Argentina to victory against West Germany in the final, beating them 3-2 in the Atzeca Stadium, in Mexico City.

However, the defence of the World Cup title four years later ended in tears for Maradona, as Argentina finished runner-up 1-0 to West Germany in Rome

The 1994 World Cup in the USA was a fall from grace for Maradona after he tested positive in a drugs test during the tournament. He was later expelled from the World Cup by FIFA.

After his retirement, Maradona’s health started to deteriorate, due to alcohol and substance abuse. His indulgent lifestyle put him in the spotlight and at times overshadowed his achievements on the field.

Bouncing back after one health scare after another, Maradona took over as coach of Argentina ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa with rising star Lionel Messi under his wing. Maradona didn’t hold back on his theatrics through the tournament and the cameras loved him.

Who’s the greatest footballer ever? Pele or Maradona? The debate may still continue. The Brazilian legend said this after Maradona’s death: “For sure, one day we will kick a ball together in heaven.”

Argentinians saw a lot of Diego in Lionel Messi, who fittingly bagged the No.10 jersey that defined Maradona for years. Maradona didn’t succeed in coaching Argentina to a World Cup title.

As he approached 60, Maradona’s health issues flared up again as he underwent emergency surgery for a subdural haematoma in 2020. He died of a heart attack at his home in the outskirts of Buenos Aires on November 25, 2020.

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He believed that Argentina will win the World Cup at Mexico in 1986 and he backed that intuition with a footballing skill that was suffused with a magic realism that would have made Gabriel Garcia Marquez proud. Such was Maradona’s dominance — dribble, feint, sell a dummy, score a goal and then grin like a child at a candy store. If you were a sporting fan of the 1980s, this was bliss multiplied by infinity.

But he wasn’t entirely clean; a ‘header’ against England in that World Cup which he owned, emerged from his hands. It was an adrenaline-laced blur, the leap, the head swivelling, a hand jutting out and a goal was scored.

A mural depicting Diego Maradona, by street artist Jorit, is painted on a building in Naples, Italy.

Back then television wasn’t all encompassing. The goal was awarded to Argentina and in the larger scheme of things, the Falkland Islands skirmish between his nation and England was ruling the airwaves.

Hand of God

That old aphorism swept the air – all is fair in love and war. Years later Maradona admitted that the goal was struck with his hand but in 1986, he philosophically spoke about the ‘Hand of God’, and a controversy was swept under the carpet of cosmic greatness, which also contained the 'goal of the century', scored in the same match, after a bewitching run that started in his own half.

Maradona won that World Cup for Argentina, it was his high and equally became the cross that Lionel Messi had to bear while trying to get the Latin American nation excel at the World Cup over the last decade.

Messi the FC Barcelona legend is not exactly Messi the Argentinian whiz kid. And the exploits of Maradona was too much of a legacy to carry forward.

Maradona, however, could not extend that 1986 spirit of zest into the subsequent World Cups.

He did helm his men into the 1990 final but in the 1994 championship in the USA, ignominy wrapped him forever as he failed a drugs test.

The genius had wilted, caught up in his own super-hero image. Drugs, excessive alcohol and delusion undid the great man. He turned obese, had health issues but there was still some magic in his feet.

Some years back, he was in Kerala , busy promoting a jewellery brand. Having downed a few rums in his room, he was high-spirited. Along with Indian legend I.M. Vijayan at Kannur, the maestro juggled a football with his legs, took it on his chest, headed it a few times and stayed in control.

Time was frozen, sporting paradise had descended on Malabar, and Maradona showed that genius was innate in his veins.

But on a Wednesday night in a year lost to the coronavirus, football’s maverick-great breathed his last. The sport is poorer while searing memories remain.