THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF DIEGO MARADONA

ROBERT J WILSON TAKES A LOOK BACK AT THE ARGENTINIAN LEGEND’S INCREDIBLE LIFE...

- ROBERT J WILSON

KNOWN as El Pibe de Oro (The Golden Boy), Diego Maradona once revealed his ambitions for his career. Already at ease in front of a TV camera, the teenage sensation expressed his dreams for the future.

“I have two dreams - one is to play in the World Cup, and the other is to be champion with my team.”

If life is all about achieving dreams and goals, then they don’t get any better than that.

The secret was already out by then with the majority of Europe’s top clubs pursuing his signature from Boca Juniors, for whom he had scored 28 goals from just 40 starts. Barcelona would eventually win that particular race with a world record transfer fee of £5m in June 1982.

Barely a month later, his first taste of the World Cup (he was surprisingly left out of the 1978 winning squad) ended in defeat and disgrace against Brazil. With Argentina trailing 3-0 to their fiercest rivals, Maradona’s studs-up challenge on the Brazilian substitute Batista saw him sent off with just minutes left.

Four years later, though, and Maradona would fulfil his prophecy with stunning brilliance in the stifling heat of Mexico.

One-man teams do not exist, but undeniably during Mexico ’86, that is the closest you will ever see to it.

At the age of 25, Maradona had not only cemented his place as the finest player of his generation, but arguably as the best ever.

His virtuoso performances, most notably against his adopted country Italy and Uruguay in the group stages, the sworn enemy England in the quarter-final and Belgium in the semi-final transfixed world audiences.