A Son of the Rock

The one name suffices.

Like most superstars he is immediately identifiable.

Sadly one of the best two footballers ever to play the game today left the global pitch. Shockingly young it has to be said.

I suppose in that, his personal demons may have had something to do with it. But mercifully in the light of other recent deaths of former footballers it wasn’t dementia that took him.

His feats on the international stage are enough to put him on a pedestal, dragging Argentina to a World Cup win in 1986 almost (but not quite) on his own and to another final four years later, but it was his elevation of Napoli to the status of winners of Lo Scudetto in 1987 that is perhaps his greatest achievement. And then he did it with them again three years later. They haven’t touched those heights since.

In that 1986 World Cup there was the (in)famous Hand of God goal in the quarter-final against England – soon to be followed by the even more famous slalom through the whole England defence, one by one putting them on their backsides before planting the ball in the net. Even the English TV commentator Barry Davies was moved to remark, “You have to say that’s magnificent.”

But his performance in the semi-final against Belgium was better, a level of sustained excellence rarely seen before or since, perhaps even unequalled. I found this distillation of it (with a lot of repeat angles) on You Tube.

Diego Armando Maradona Franco: 30/10/1960 – 25/11/2020. So it goes.