Diego Maradona: A football God who lived human life

Bengaluru, November 25: Since that seminal 1986 Mexico World Cup triumph of Argentina, debates never died down. Who is the greatest footballer of all time? Is it Diego Maradona or Pele? A definitive answer has not been found till now and it may never be found either.

But a question about the most infuriating footballer of all time might just have one answer - Diego Armando Maradona. No footballer has ever polarised opinion among football fans like the Argentine. The game against England in 1986 showpiece event offers a brilliant example.

First came the Hand of God goal that still fuels countless arguments and THAT goal followed a few minutes later leaving England footballers mere onlookers. Evil one second, pure genius the other.

Fame devoured Maradona but it did not burn him out overnight. The eyes of the world were set on him when he arrived at Napoli in 1984 as the El Pibe de Oro. In the seven years in Naples, Maradona lifted a mediocre Italian club to two Serie A titles, something they never achieved before or after.

It is no wonder Napoli fans built a church for Maradona, his face still adorns many walls in the city. It was the pinnacle of fame and adoration a sportsman can hope for. But for a ghetto boy, it was all too hot to handle. Maradona became a party animal, a companion of drug lords in Naples. The significance of football that took him from the streets of Buenos Aires to Italy and around the world began to fade.

The cruellest cut came when Argentina with Maradona in their line-up beat Italy in the semifinals of the 1990 World Cup at the San Paulo stadium, where the Argentine wrote thrilling stories for Napoli. Italian fans and media showered him with vitriol. The magic of Golden Boy no longer existed. Maradona returned a broken king.

A one-year drug ban followed and Maradona never really touched the heights of 1986 again. He was not a flawless icon. He is not a role model in the traditional sense. Yes, he can be a text book for young footballers on the pitfalls of fame. Ironical isn't it? He was a never a person or player played by the book.

Pele is the more organised genius, a man who never let the football fade from his life for anything. He never left the shores of Brazil for more glittering fields. But Maradona left his home as a prodigious young footballer, took on the world, rebelled with himself and powers that be, wrote an epic for himself and his country, walked by fire, made fans, created headlines, good and bad, and finally set out for a journey without a return path.

Vale Diego Armando Maradona - a football God who lived a very human life.