Lionel Messi, regarded by many as the greatest, certainly liked Diego Armando Maradona Napoli player, and rated him. Here is what he said on social media when he died:

• “A very sad day for all Argentines and for football,” said Messi on Instagram. “He leaves us but does not leave, because Diego is eternal. I keep all the beautiful moments lived with him and I wanted to take the opportunity to send my condolences to all his family and friends. RIP.”

Diego Armando Maradona Napoli, the so called Africans of Italy as they were called in Italy at the time. What did he achieve at the club?

In He managed to make Napoli into a top football club in Serie A. Before that, they were a Yo-yo club.

They were getting promoted and relegated constantly. To use a politically incorrect term from the documentary, Napoli and Naples were seen as the Africa of Italy compared to the rich big teams and towns such as Juventus in Turin and A.C Milan, as well as Internationale both in Milan.

With regards to the Argentina team in 1986, he managed to win the World Cup and then get them to the final in 1990 regarding the Argentinians. Quite some achievement. Many consider the World Cup in Mexico in 1986 as his finest hour.

Many of my fellow Englishmen remember and hate him because of that one cheat goal that in the World Cup in Mexico against England in 1986.

I am showing my age so that the younger generation can judge him more fairly, and there are many YouTube videos of him doing great things.

He is the greatest footballer of my generation. Gary Lineker said he had met many footballers, and when he met him at a charity match, he became starstruck.

Diego vs Maradona (The Story) (SPOILERS)

Maradona was a flawed individual in many ways. There were two Maradona’s. There was Diego and then Maradona. Diego was a lovely, well-behaved individual. Then there was Maradona. When he first arrived in Napoli, he was Diego, the shy street kid. Maradona was an arrogant, cocky player on the football field.

As time continued and the press constantly harassed and harangued him. Diego disappeared more and more, and he became Maradona. The arrogant individual on the pitch. His cocaine habit didn’t help it. Maradona didn’t like staying in with his children and his wife. That was for Diego.

Maradona liked coke and prostitutes. To supply this entertainment, he got in with the Sicilian Mafia.

He did ask to leave Napoli in the middle of his cocaine habit, but he was not allowed to leave. Maybe he wanted to get in touch with Diego again. The chairman of Naples would not allow him to leave. Nearby were the Mafia and cocaine and beautiful women. He was being forced to be Maradona by circumstance.

Something at some point would give as Maradona was a loose cannon. The catalyst for Maradona’s downfall was a World Cup semi-final in Naples, which paired the home nation Italy against Argentina.

Maradona asked for the support of his Neopolitins. According to the documentary, this didn’t happen, and the Neopolitins chose to support Italy.

I have heard conflicting accounts that there were fans of Maradona in the stadium who supported him. Who knows what the truth was?

Anyway, the game went to a penalty shoot-out. Maradona took Argentina’s last penalty, which won them the game when Italy’s previous penalty was saved. The Argentinians celebrated.

After that, knives were out for Maradona. He was public enemy number one. He had many enemies in Italy for making little Napoli the number one team. Also, Maradona was not Diego on the pitch. Also, he eliminated Italy from the World Cup on their home soil.

  He was banned for a year from football for taking coke. He also had a suspended sentence for a year for activities relating to Coke and Prostitutes in the criminal court. FIFA made the ban worldwide. He could not play football anywhere.

He left Italy and returned to Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, where he put on weight and sat out his ban. He played again for Seville, Newells Old Boys, and his favourite team, Boca Juniors.

The documentary concluded that his time in Napoli summarised Maradona’s life. I can forgive him for that. As he said initially, ‘I am not a monk’. Big ups and massive downs.

It is not perfect and 2 hours is too long. But I am glad I watched it as it is a story of one of the greats from when I first became interested in football.

Would I recommend this film about Diego Maradona Napoli?

Definitely.

I love Maradona. He is a flawed genius. People say that Messi and Ronaldo are/were better than him. Both scored more goals than him and achieved more, agreed.

However, Maradona managed to carry weaker teams to glory. He won 2 Serie A’s in Italy with Napoli, a Uefa Cup and an Italian Supercup. He also single handedly carried a weak Italian team to the World Cup in 1986

Maradona’s was my generation’s top footballer, so he is my number 1. I think it is all a matter of subjectivity, really.

The story of Diego Armando Maradona Italy can be found on Sky Documentaries or NowTV:

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